Julia Kim Smith

Upcoming / current

Baltimore Actually spotted in NYT:
John Waters’s Baltimore, July 1, 2024

Concrete Poetry 2 opening May 20, 2024, The Ivy Bookshop gardens, Baltimore, MD
Concrete Poetry 2 Instagram feed
Concrete Poetry 2 in
BmoreArt’s Picks: May 28-June 3
BmoreArt Instagram feed, June 24, 2024

Baltimore Actually sticker, T-shirt, and bookmark available at
Atomic Books, Baltimore, MD
Proceeds to the Enoch Pratt Free Library

Baltimore Actually sticker and bookmark available at
Sideshow at The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD
Proceeds to the Enoch Pratt Free Library

Google Sex and With Banksy NFTs on
Rarible

Bio

Julia Kim Smith is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been featured by Angry Asian Man, Animal, Art F City, artnet News, GQ, Hypebeast, Hyperallergic, Juxtapoz, kottke.org, Ms., Paper Magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and international media outlets. Her films have received premieres at Slamdance Film Festival, Cinequest Film Festival, Center For Asian American Media CAAMFest, San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and Joe’s Pub. Smith has exhibited nationally and internationally with new media and feminist artists Renee Cox, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Kate Durbin, Hasan Elahi, Coco Fusco, Poppy Jackson, Rupi Kaur, Sarah Maple, Haley Morris-Cafiero, Phranc, Joyce J. Scott, Annie Sprinkle, Diane Torr, Sue Williams, Martha Wilson, and Barbara Zucker.

Smith is a former A.I.R. Gallery artist, Rubys Artist Grant recipient, Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award recipient, two-time Creative Capital semi-finalist, and three-time Sondheim Prize semi-finalist. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication from The University of Michigan where she was the recipient of a Rackham Fellowship. She worked as senior designer at the PBS and NPR affiliate WETA, Washington, DC, and has led design workshops at Maryland Institute College of Art. Her 3-D greeting card line SLANT was honored with the LOUIE Award and has been featured nationally at arango, Art Institute of Chicago, Baltimore Museum of Art, Kate’s Paperie, National Building Museum, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Store Ltd, Urban Outfitters, and Whitney Museum of American Art Store Next Door. She is a Creative Alliance trustee emeritus.

Smith lives in Baltimore, Maryland with her family and the world’s most irritating dog, cat, and bird.

Artist statement

Through my work, I address issues of racism, sexism, misrepresentation, and underrepresentation through traditional and new media. I am interested in text, meaning, and the pervasive influence of the internet and its tools on society. I use all to inform my practice and to question what constitutes truth—and whose truth?

My influences include artists Kota Ezawa, Jenny Holzer, and Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, and writers Cathy Park Hong, Jay Caspian Kang, Maggie Nelson, Antero Pietila, Jess Row, and Wesley Yang.

Press

“a stupendous achievement of minimalist, conceptual art that ought to forever lay to rest the idea that such work is no more than a dry intellectual exercise. This is art of unflinching intelligence, great passion and overwhelming emotional impact.”
— Glenn McNatt, The Baltimore Sun

“what I see in [the artists] is a cohesive and vitally important social force....The artists in the show all inject a twenty-first century impetus into that most enduring of seventies feminist conceptions: the personal is political.”
Celebrating Kindred Spirits and Strange Bedfellows, A.I.R. National & International Exhibition, Curator: Catherine J. Morris, Brooklyn Museum, Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art

“a conceptual visionary...uniquely brainy-funny-edgy-naughty style...Julia is an interdisciplinary maker, switching deftly between performance, video, film, photography, and printmaking. We love the way Julia’s images make us think, shudder and laugh, sometimes all at once.”
— Betsy Boyd, Baltimore Fishbowl

“funny stuff”
— Phil Yu, Angry Asian Man

“cheeky...brilliant”
— Wheelbarrow, Kidrobot KRonikle

“worst portrayal and rip off to fame ever....”
— anonymous comment posted via Facebook on Kidrobot KRonikle

CV

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