Portrait of Lionel Smit by Coetzer Cooke
Lionel Smit
Lionel Smit is one of South Africa’s most prolific and exalted artists. His artistic diversity is pursued through a variety of mediums and he is best known for his contemporary portraiture. His art is defined by a deeply rooted symbiotic relationship between sculpture and painting. Today, each of Lionel Smit’s works offers us an entry point into the variety and richness that lies beneath every face we encounter in life, whether applied in bronze or paint. The blending of techniques across genres is a display of Smit’s work in multiple media, all bearing a visible and tangible overlap.
Lionel Smit was born in 1982 in Pretoria, South Africa. His pieces are held in prestigious collections and institutions worldwide, including notable achievements such as the public display of his monumental bronze sculpture “Morphous” in Union Square, New York, and the installation of three large bronze sculptures at EJI’s “Freedom Monument Sculpture Park” in Montgomery, Alabama. Smit has held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Miami and the Didrichsen Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland.
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Selected exhibition history & CV (PDF)
Lionel Smit Studio
The Lionel Smit studio is located in a unique area steeped in history: The Paardevlei Precinct, Somerset West. The studio was designed and built by renowned architect Stuart Hermansen of HB Architects. It is a voluminous space, church-like in terms of spatial quality.
This spectacular studio is not just a gallery. It is a destination where you can find space and inspiration through art, and architecture.