Shift captures my journey as an artist navigating the quiet transformations that redefine how I create. This exhibition marks a departure from the bold, sweeping gestures of my past work, embracing smaller brushstrokes.

Intimate, small figurative sculptures embody this idea of focusing on larger, bold, fragmented pieces into more subtle and delicate work that demands precision and introspection.

Each mark and form reflects a personal evolution—a move toward subtlety, where the smallest detail carries the weight of change.

(Text by Lionel Smit)

Lionel Smit (born in 1982 in Pretoria, South Africa) is one of the country’s most prolific and acclaimed artists. His work is defined by a deep, symbiotic relationship between sculpture and painting, and his artistic practice spans a wide range of media. Best known for his contemporary portraiture, Smit’s pieces—whether rendered in bronze or paint—offer an entry point into the richness and complexity that lies beneath every human face.

His work is included in prestigious collections and institutions around the world. Notable milestones include the public display of his monumental bronze sculpture Morphous in Union Square, New York, and the installation of three large bronze sculptures at the Equal Justice Initiative’s “Freedom Monument Sculpture Park” in Montgomery, Alabama. Smit has also held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Miami and the Didrichsen Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland.