RHYTHM  SEQUENCE is the first career survey of Australian artist Gemma Smith. The exhibition traces the development of Smith’s practice since 2003 and its experimentation with the language of painting. It celebrates Smith’s reworking of abstract codes and styles, as well as her testing of colour, form and painterly gestures.

RHYTHM  SEQUENCE features more than 50 paintings and sculptures drawn from collections across Australia. Many of the works are being exhibited for the first time since their original exhibition. Included are a collection of Smith’s earliest paintings depicting crystalline forms and geometric compositions on chessboards; sculptural ‘boulders’ and ‘adaptables’ where colours are reconfigured and interact; as well as hard edge and gestural works that explore the blocking, translucency and opacity of paints. The exhibition also includes Smith’s most recent works in which colour is barely perceptible.

The exhibition comprises an arrangement of small boards and large canvases which together reflect the physicality and intimacy of the artist’s studio work. Rather than reflect a chronology, the exhibition is sequenced to emphasise Smith’s playful engagement with ideas of juxtaposition and disjunction, and her enduring interest in the act of painting itself.

UNSW Galleries presents RHYTHM SEQUENCE - Gemma Smith.  15 March–1 June,2019.

Opening Event: 6–8pm Friday 15 March. Exhibition to be opened by celebrated Australian writer, curator and broadcaster Julie Ewington.

Artist in Conversation: Saturday 16 March 3pm. Learn more about this exhibition in a conversation between the artist and Julie Ewington.

Entry is free.  See more about RHYTHM SEQUENCE here.