Statement:
Smith is a landscape artist who uses colour photography to document and cross examine emergent structures of post-industrial landmass through a process of wayfinding and actively losing himself in landscape.
The work is a study of the ephemeral nature of territory. This is initially observed schematically, using a kind of relational gameplay between transient things and their environments, through stances of distance and proximity, forming a rhetoric of visual reiteration. These ‘things’ depicted in the photographs are considered as tactics and together form a narrative strategy, an idea informing and defining an ‘architecture’ or concept of the contemporary territory of England.
CV
1977
James Smith
Born, Cambridge, based Northampton, UK
2024
That There
Work in progress
2018-19
Portmanteau Project
Educator: Artist/Tutor in Residence University of Northampton
Exhibition, group: Campus
2018
London Overspill 2008-2014
Book: Relief Press
Essays: Owen Hatherley, Matthew Shaul, Eugenie Shinkle
Book Launch: AA bookshop, London
In Conversation: Milton Keynes Gallery
Expansion Photography
Commission: Milton Keynes Gallery
Geometry of Nothing
Publication: Sculptorvox (vol 1)
2017
Memorability as an Image
Exhibition, Solo: NN Contemporary Art, Northampton
Book: Scopio Editions, (Faculty of Architecture University of Porto) Portugal.
Essays: Jonathan Hale, Ben Highmore, Nicholas Smith
Conference: Clear Exhibition of Structure, NN Contemporary Art
Review: Darren Campion, Photomonitor & The Architectural Review
2016
Harlow Art Trust
Trustee: (2016-2022) and founder of STAIR (Sculpture Town Artist In Residence)
Tense, between present & future
Exhibition, group: Open 16, Brighton Photo Fringe
A 5th Ecology
Exhibition, group: Woodbury School of Architecture, Los Angeles
2015
Continuity: From Garden City – to New Town
Book: University of Hertfordshire, with Dr. Christine Garwood (AHRC funded)
Conference: Milton Keynes Arts & Heritage Alliance, Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre
Re-Configuring Ruins
Conference: The Newbridge Project, Newcastle
Urban Landscapes
Publication: British Journal of Photography, pg15 February 2014, Vol 161 Issue No 7821
2013
Temporal Dislocation
Exhibition, solo: Photofusion, London
Review: Roy Exley, Photomonitor
Essay: Alexander García Düttmann, Photomonitor
RA Summer Show
Exhibition, group: Two pieces by Invitation, 245th Royal Academy Summer Show
Photography / Authenticity
Conference: Centre for Visual Studies, University of Sheffield
AHFAP UK
Conference: Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography (annual), Tate Modern
W-CA Contemporary Landscape – Photography
Exhibition, group: Worcester Open, Worcester
Academy Now
Exhibition, group: Hanmi Gallery, London
Guests + Hosts
Exhibition, group: NN Contemporary Art, Northampton
2012-14
UHGalleries (gathering tour)
Exhibition, solos:
London Overspill, UHGalleries, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, 2012
Luton Overlay, Departure Lounge, Luton, 2012-2013
Estate, Gibberd Gallery, Harlow, 2014
Parkway, City Museum, Peterborough, 2014
Review: Elain Harwood, C20, Issue2014/3 & Owen Hatherley, Icon, Issue 139
2012-19
FCA Artist Educator
Educator: Fermynwoods Contemporary Art for The CE Academy, Kettering – Key Stage 3
2012
Seeing For Others
Exhibition, group: RCA photography, Work Gallery, London
Publication: Black Dog Publishing
Art & Music
Publication: The Saatchi Gallery Magazine, Winter 2012/Issue 20. Profile by Louise Clarke
2011
Alt. +1000
Exhibition, group: Alt. +1000, Swiss festival of Mountain Photography. Rossinière, Switzerland
Publication: High Altitude | Photography in the Mountains
2010-12
Royal College of Art
Education: MA Photography Programme
Exhibition, group: RCA Show, Temporal Dislocation, Sculpture Building, Battersea, London
2008
Ways
Exhibition, group: RWE 1st Photography Open, Bristol
2007
Greyfriars
Exhibition, solo: Chronicle and Echo building, Northampton
2006-07
Alter Project (Ways)
Exhibition, solo: Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, Northants
Funded: Arts&Business (Arts Council of England), Corby Borough Council
BeeBee Developments (via Section106)
Review: Architects Journal, BBC, & The Guardian
Evaluation Report:
2004-05
Absent Status
Funded: Arts Council of England, Northampton Borough Council
Exhibition, Group: Fishmarket, Northampton
2001-02
Islandisation
Exhibition, Group: Format 05, Derby
Exhibition, solo: Avenue Gallery, University of Northampton
Funded: Corby Borough Council
1997-00
University of Northampton
Education: BA Fine Art
Visiting Tutor: Bedfordshire, Brighton, Hertfordshire, Plymouth, Northampton, Solent, UEA Rochester, Westminster Universities
Collections: University of Hertfordshire, Hawkins/Brown Architects, Ellen Shapiro
Influences:
Ove Arup, Lewis Baltz, Reyner Banham, Becky Beasley, Frank Breuer, Bill Brown, James J. Gibson, Graham Harman, W. G. Hoskins, Edmund Husserl, Jacques Lacan, Elisabeth Neudörfl, George Perec, Berliner Panoramafotografien, Richard Serra, David Levi Strauss, Paul Shepheard, Toshio Shibata, Anna Vogel, Petra Wittmar.
Green, grey and brown. (equidistant) Northampton, UK.
Current tools:
Linhof Technika, Kodak Portra 400, VW GolfSV.