Brendan is a queer painter living and working in California. His colorful paintings explore themes of queerness, gender, and nature. Smith’s background in illustration, animation, and painting is displayed throughout each painting. Androgynous figures are seen building their own worlds, away from the one of the viewer but similar enough to feel familiar. The themes of androgyny and “in-between” are also explored in color and light. Sunsets and sunrises are used symbolically in this way as well as color theory related to queerness. 

The title of my first painting since moving west: “My ‘Gay Window’” is based on the phrase by queer activist Harry Hay. The painting itself is of a figure in the house I grew up in. A few months after finishing it, I was reading about Hay and connected with how his phrase perfectly describes how queer people view this strange world. I hope that each of my paintings can act as a gay window where I show our shared world but through my own queer lens.

Education: 2011 Yale MFA • 2006 RISD BFA

Exhibitions:

2020

Spring Break Art Show, Koki Arts, New York, NY

2018

Molto Impasto, Jeff Lincoln Art+Design, Southampton,NY

2016

Music for Chameleons, 315 Gallery, New York, NY

2015

Summer, Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY,

Winter Show, Koki Arts, Tokyo, JP

Metamodern, Denny Gallery, New York, NY

PaintingID, FIVE ELEVEN, New York, NY (solo)

2014 

S1, Louis B. James, New York, NY (solo)

2013 

Diff'rent Strokes, Louis B. James, New York, NY

Dallas Art Fair, Louis B. James Booth, Dallas, TX

2012 

NADA Miami, Louis B. James Booth, Miami, FL

Chaos, Control, Chaos, Control, Louis B. James, New York (2 person show)

Considering the Provisional, FJORD Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Potential Images, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA

2011 

Soda Pop:Effervescence and Abstraction, Cindy Rucker Gallery, New York

Group Show, Primetime, Brooklyn

Painting/Printmaking MFA Thesis Exhibition, Green Gallery, New Haven, CT

2009 

Art for Haiti Benefit Auction, Green Gallery, New Haven, CT

Bibliography

ELLE Decor, Dec. 2021 NYTimes: What to See at New York's Art Fairs This Week, 2017 METAL Magazine: Brendan Smith, 2016 Vogue.com, 2015 PaintingID, artnet.com, 2015 Mix and Match: Brendan Smith's On-Demand Paintings, artinfo.com, 2014 10 Must See Works at the ADAA Art Show, Architectural Digest, 2014 30 Under Thirty, Art Business News, 2013 The New Yorker, 2012