Josh Smith (1976) - Untitled

Oil on canvas by Josh Smith, 45 x 60 cm, created in 2006, signed and dated by the artist on the back, with archive number JS06127.
Data of the work
• Artist: Josh Smith (Knoxville, 1976)
• Title: Untitled (JS06127)
• Year: 2006
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 60 x 45 cm
• Signature: signed and dated “JOSH SMITH 2006” on the back
• Archive: registered with no. JS06127
Description of the work
In this painting the artist uses his own name as the main subject, decomposed into black letters that layer on a white background up to approaching abstraction, in keeping with the series of “name paintings” that have made him recognizable on the international scene. The energetic brushwork and the serial character of the writing transform the canvas into a dense and vibrant visual field, where sign and image coincide and invite a focus on the painting process rather than the mere legibility of the text.
Importance in the artist’s production
The works from 2006 represent a crucial phase in Josh Smith’s development of language, in which the repetition of his own name becomes a conceptual device to challenge notions of identity, signature, and the value of the painting. In these years the artist exhibits in major galleries and European and American institutions, consolidating a research that extends to printmaking, artist books, and sculpture, but which finds one of the most influential nuclei of his practice precisely in these canvas paintings.