Artist Statement
I create conceptual portraits which explore identity, mimicry and stereotypes; specifically, how social and psychological forces shape our identity. I try to connect my photographs to the history of art, linking contemporary people and practices to the past by employing techniques that reference classical portraiture.
Process Statement
Through gesture, lighting, size and formality, my images recall artists such as Vermeer, Manet, Renoir, Paxton and Sargent and pay homage to the original purpose of portraiture: the glorification of the individual, the family or the subject’s role in society.
My photographs are printed on matte paper with a non-glare luster glaze and framed without glass; thus referencing the genre of painting. I use the medium of photography, but manipulate the image in order to evoke the genre of painted portraits. However, while the genre of painting is referenced in order to link the images to the legacy of portraiture, the choice to use the medium of photography plays upon our cultural assumptions that what is seen in a photograph is a record of fact. Thus, linking the photographs and the subjects to present day society.
Alix Smith was born in New York City. She began photographing at a young age and at 14 was a Gold Key winner of the National Scholastic Art Awards. She earned a BA in from Bowdoin College in 2000, and an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2005.
Alix’s photographs are included in numerous public and private collections, and have been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. She has been reviewed in numerous publications some of which include The New York Times, Art Review, Artnet, and TimeOut New York and The Advocate. Art Review Magazine listed her as one of the best emerging photographers internationally in 2005. Alix is represented by Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York City, and has received fiscal sponsorship from The New York Foundation for the Arts, for her project States of Union. She lives and works in New York City.
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