Lucien Smith, the downtown art-world fixture who became a symbol of New York’s early-2010s scene, has died at 37.
The cause of death has not been released, according to those close to the artist. Smith, who first gained notice for spraying paint from fire extinguishers onto canvas to create his signature “Rain Paintings,” had been preparing for what friends and colleagues described as a major return to form.
Bill Powers, 47, whose Half Gallery gave Smith his first solo show, “Good Vibrations,” in 2012, spoke about the artist’s enduring place in contemporary art.
“When people remember contemporary art from the early teens of this century, it will be impossible not to include the work of Lucien Smith in that conversation,” Powers said. “I’ll think of him whenever it rains, and sunny days, too.”
Powers added that Smith’s family had been central to his life in recent years. “Our thoughts are with his mother and little brother now. Lucien had bought a house in Montauk where they all lived. His family was important to him.”
That Montauk property became the setting for Smith’s final body of work. He produced four new Rain Paintings on an abandoned baseball field at Camp Hero, Montauk, for a show titled “Delay of Game” that had been scheduled to open this week at Tripoli Gallery.
Tripoli Patterson, the gallery’s owner, confirmed the exhibition is now being postponed as organizers work with Smith’s family on future dates.
“All of my love is with Lucien, his mother Vivian, and all those dear to him,” Patterson said. “He is a bright star who will continue shining in his new form and through all the artworks he shared with us,” Patterson continued, “As we mourn his way too early departure, I find the strength to remain steadfast with the responsibility he entrusted me with: exhibiting his work and completing his vision.”
Smith’s trajectory had been remarkable from the start. After graduating from Cooper Union in 2011, he rapidly became a presence in Lower Manhattan galleries and was dubbed a “wunderkind” by the outlet’s T Magazine in 2013. “He’s just 24, but Lucien Smith has arrived,” the publication wrote. He landed on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list in both 2013 and 2014, and by 25 had accumulated millions in sales, including one painting that fetched $372,000 at Sotheby’s in 2014.
But the market that had elevated him proved unstable. Reports said in 2015 that the speculative sector where “insiders continually scour Facebook and Instagram for the next Damien Hirst” had cooled, with Smith and peers seeing auction prices fall from earlier peaks.
According to his own website, Smith subsequently confronted “some of the pitfalls of gaining notoriety so early.” He relocated to Montauk and, in an interview with Ssense, rejected the persona he had constructed. “I was subscribing to this idea of what a New York City artist was that was really pretentious and unhealthy,” he said. “After the first four years of me showing, it became evident to me. I’m not interested in being a New York art star. I’m not interested in being a Dash Snow or a Dan Colen. It all kind of just came to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore.”
That disillusionment redirected Smith toward nurturing others. In 2015, he founded Serving the People, a nonprofit he described as “a group which seeks to nourish emerging talent in art, music and film.”
“Our goal is to provide an alternative platform for creative inquiry and experimentation. We want to help bring awareness to the unrefined, uncommercial and create a market for it as well,” he said of the organization’s mission.
Earlier this year, Smith reopened Food, the legendary SoHo restaurant originally founded in 1971 by artists Tina Girouard, Carol Goodden, and Gordon Matta-Clark. The revival signaled his deepening engagement with art-world community building rather than personal market success.
The new Rain Paintings represented a deliberate circling back to his origins. “Life has taken me full circle,” Smith told Artnet. “I think it is time to return to the process I was given.”
News of his death prompted an outpouring from fellow artists. Andrew Kuo wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, “Lucien Smith was our friend and his death is tragic. This is a loss for our community. Damn. Rest in peace, Lucien.”
The “Delay of Game” exhibition is expected to be rescheduled for a later date as Patterson and Smith’s family determine how to proceed with what the gallerist called “his final gesture.”