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Lenard Smith Studio

@archivethestudio

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2025 - 2026 Faculty USC
Roski School of Art & Design
2024 MacDowell Fellow
Los Angeles studio | Tongva Land

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Open to the Public!

I am pleased to share some installation photographs by Nikolay Maslov

@ucrarts

LENARD SMITH: FORTUITOUS ENCOUNTERS
January 24–July 26, 2026

UCR ARTS: California Museum of Photography
SPRING RECEPTION April 11, 2026 • 3–6 p.m.

Free and open to the public

——

Lenard Smith finds art and meaning in what others discard. The Ghanaian-American photographer constructs mesmerizing still life compositions that challenge how we read images, intermingling markers of Black culture with photography’s own tools and detritus that comprise what he calls the “Black Archive”: a visual taxonomy offering new modes of refuge, peace, and freedom.

Fresh off of being named Best Booth at NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) Miami 2025 by ArtNews, Smith brings this practice to UCR ARTS for Fortuitous Encounters, his first solo museum exhibition, opening January 24, 2026.

Smith is a studio-based photographer whose compelling still life tableaux transform everyday
objects into thought-provoking compositions. Drawing inspiration from Surrealist photography,
the work of Conceptual photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, African Brutalist architecture, and his relationship to the African diaspora,

Smith creates images that are simultaneously familiar and estranged—highly legible yet deeply personal meditations on form, memory, and identity. “It gives me great joy to be able to share my work with the photography community in Los Angeles and and greater Los Angeles,” says Smith. “It’s also a testament to dedicated work—trying to learn a particular craft and engage my contemporaries with work that is challenging, explorative, and curious.”

The exhibition presents selections from two bodies of work: Fortuitous Encounter (2018–20) and Melancholy Objects (2022) Published by @perimeterbooks . Both series titles reference the influential photography criticism of
Susan Sontag (1933–2004), whose writings have been foundational to Smith’s practice.

Curated by: @k_poindexter

Link in bio ✌🏾 taken in UCR ARTS by @archivethestudio

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Available Now.

Here is the catalog and gallery take away accompanying my first museum solo exhibition of photographs, objects, and sculptures open now at @ucrarts / California Museum of Photography.

Curated by: @k_poindexter

Grateful to Annie Chu of @chugoodingarchitects for the support with the exhibition design.

Book Design: @rachel.jax

This catalog was printed by @nonstopprintingla
Deep gratitude to Leiman, for your support. taken in UCR ARTS by @archivethestudio

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7 months ago

Currently on View

Foundational Roots, 2020
Archival Pigment Print
16 x 20 inches
Edition of 3 + 2 A.P.

Lenard Smith: Fortuitous Encounters
California Museum of Photography
January 24, 2026 to July 26, 2026
@ucrarts

Curated by: Kathryn Poindexter-Akers
@k_poindexter taken in UCR ARTS by @archivethestudio

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5 months ago

I am pleased to share information about my forthcoming solo exhibition in Los Angeles.

LENARD SMITH
ENTROPY OF FORM
October 3 - November 7, 2026
Opening Reception
October 3, 2026 8pm - 12am
The Fulcrum
422 Ord St., 2nd Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90012 taken in Los Angeles, California by @archivethestudio

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a day ago

Black Interior, 2008
Commissioned by @studiomuseum

Studio Museum Harlem Magazine
Spring Issue by @archivethestudio

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a month ago

Man from Senegal
At a time when I was living in Bologna, Italia. by @archivethestudio

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a month ago

Interior
Malcolm X Memorial Foundation
Omaha, Nebraska 2022 by @archivethestudio

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a month ago

A selection of books from my studio library.

Space can affect our mood.
Space can affect our activities.
Space can offer possibilities.
Augustus Serapinas
@augustasserapinas
@kodoji_press
@galerietschudi

Superstructures
The Constructivist City:
The Situationist City:
The Provotarian City:
The Post-Punk City:
@roma.publications

Avant-Garde as Method
1920-1930
Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space
Anna Bokov @anyabokov
@park_books

Bruno Munari
Manuel Fontán del Junco
Catalogue of the exhibition at Fundación Juan March, Madrid from
February 18 to May 22, 2022
Corraini Edizioni
@corrainiedizioni

the situationists in the city
Edited by Tom McDonough @tmcdonou69
@versobooks

Josep Luís Mateo
Writings 2005-2020
@park_books

Situations
Lydia Okumura
@sternbergpress_official by @archivethestudio

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Work in Progress.

Colony Structures by @archivethestudio

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2 months ago

slowly but surely. by @archivethestudio

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2 months ago

new work in progress. by @archivethestudio

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2 months ago

Thank you

Betye Saar

Rest in Peace by @archivethestudio

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