Vardaxoglou Gallery presents an exhibition of kite paintings by British artist Richard Smith (1931-2016), in collaboration with the Richard Smith Estate. For the first time, the exhibition will focus on the different iterations of Smith's kite paintings from 1973 to 1992, revealing Smith's artistic development and expansion of concept.

The exhibition brings together an example from each era of Smith’s body of kite paintings, spanning from the monochromatic kites in the 1970s, the more graphic works of 1980, the mid-1980s kites which engage with the urban environment as much as the structure of painting itself; and the early 1990s works which include painted wooden supports.

Through Smith’s kites, the artist aimed to redefine the ‘edge’ of a painting, rejecting the limitations of the traditional rectangular canvas support. Drawn edge and physical edge are combined and allocated equal weight in Smith’s examination of the surface, showing a distinct visual language of representation.

Featuring four kite works never before exhibited in the UK, this exhibition continues the current re-evaluation of Smith’s importance in Post-War British Art. It follows the publication of the major monograph Richard Smith: Artworks 1954-2013 published by Thames & Hudson in association with the Estate of Francis Bacon Publishing (October 2022).

A recent solo institutional exhibition of kite paintings was staged at The Holburne Museum, Bath (October - December 2022).

For further information please email info@vardaxoglou.com. The gallery’s opening hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 11am-6pm.

Richard Smith (b.1931-2016) was an English painter and printmaker born in Letchworth, UK. Smith studied at the Royal College of Art in London (1954-1957), where he was awarded the Harkness Fellowship to travel to New York in 1959. The artist earned acclaim early in his career, having his first retrospective show at London’s Whitechapel Gallery in 1966 at the age of 34. That same year, Smith’s work was included in the British Pavilion for the 33rd Venice Biennale in the exhibition Five Young Artists, alongside the works of Anthony Caro, Robyn Denny and Bernard and Harold Cohen. In that show Smith won the Mr and Mrs Robert C. Scull Prize for a non-American artist under 35. After his success in 1966, Smith was invited back to the Venice Biennale in 1970, this time to represent the UK in a solo show, the first to do so. In 1967 Smith took part in the IX Sao Paulo Biennial and won the Grand Prize, while in 1976 he was awarded Bradford Print Biennale First Prize. In 1973 he was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery and in 1975, the Tate Gallery in London held a major retrospective of Smith’s work. Two years later, the artist permanently relocated to the US. Today, his works can be found in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Arts Council England.