Artists

editions

exhibitions

Wayne Smith

Selected Works

Editions

Bio

Wayne Smith is a visual and sound artist who lives and works in San Francisco. Working in a variety of media including drawing, installation and scanner-based technology, he has been shown locally and internationally. Repetitive drawing and collage processes are a recurring motif in his visual art practice. Grids of ink on pieces of found wood reduce drawing to a “plotting” activity whose parameters are decided upon prior to its execution. The instability of the wood grain assures that “mistakes” will occur, the surface gradually becoming a timeline of the imperfect process created by applying ruled ballpoint pen ink to the uneven grain of the wood.

Having made field recordings for many years, Smith began assembling these recordings into musical compositions in the late 1990s. Combining them with elements of live improvisation and digital manipulation, his compositions alternate between being harmonic and noisy, often in tandem. They parallel his visual work in their use of repetition, overlapping fields, and exploitation of accidents.

His visual work is included in the collections of BAMPFA and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 2011, Smith scored the soundtrack for D-L Alvarez and Kevin Killian’s The Visitor Owl, which was screened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Live performances of his sound work, accompanied by Cliff Hengst and Scott Hewicker, have taken place at the Meridian Gallery and Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, and The Schindler House, Los Angeles.

EXHIBITIONS

Rex Ray & Wayne Smith

New Work

1996

5 Short Holidays

14.75 x 12 x 1.5 inches

INQUIRE

Nothing Out Of Nowhere,

2018

Ballpoint ink on wood

11 x 6 x 1.75 inches

INQUIRE

Cleave 2,

2024

Ballpoint ink on wood

10.75 x 9.5 x 0.75 inches

INQUIRE

2022

Ballpoint ink on wood

8.25 x 5.5 x 0.75 inches

INQUIRE

Adriane Colburn

Alex Zecca

Alice Shaw

Amy Franceschini

Andrew Romanoff

Bonanza

Carson Ellis

David Hytone

Fox Hysen

Graham Gillmore

Inez Storer

Jason Jägel

Jason Middlebrook

Jeffrey Sincich

Jered Sprecher

Jim Melchert

Johanna St. Clair

Jonn Herschend

Josh Jefferson

Kim Bennett

Lowell Darling

Martin McMurray

Michelle Grabner

Nathaniel Parsons

Nathaniel Russell

Rebeca Bollinger

Reed Anderson

Rex Ray Estate

Richard Shaw

Scott Hewicker

Shaun O'Dell

Taravat Talepasand

Thomas Heinser

Tucker Nichols

Wayne Smith

Zuzana Licko

Ala Ebtekar

Amy Ellingson

Ann Chamberlain

Ari Marcopoulos

Barry Gifford

Brad Killam

Bruno Fazzolari

Carol Selter

Charles Linder

Cliff Hengst

Darren Waterston

David Perry

Deborah Oropallo

Double Strength

Elliot Anderson

Gay Outlaw

Harrell Fletcher

Kara Maria

Libby Black

Lynn Hershman Leeson

Margaret Kilgallen

Off Hours

Rudy Vanderlans

Serena Cole

Sonny Smith

Xylor Jane

editions

exhibitions

Selected Works

Editions

Bio

EXHIBITIONS

Rex Ray & Wayne Smith

New Work

1996

5 Short Holidays

The Mystery Of The Mystery

Reversed Character

Elephant

Razor Burn

L1

Forming

UU

Veiled