E.E. Smith
Ballad of Delia
January 08 - February 21, 2015
Ballad of Delia
Press Release
The Ballad of Delia is an installation of new photo-based oil prints by E.E. Smith. This piece is part of a series in which Smith utilizes song forms as the point of departure for her work. The Ballad of Delia consists of 10 panels of varying sizes that tell the story of Delia Greene’s murder, an account best known from covers by Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. Like the singers, and especially the now-forgotten songwriters, Smith takes liberties with the telling of the tale, presenting various details and asking the viewer to fill in the story.
Each panel represents a clue to this murder mystery, yet stylistically they differ. The lush landscape harkens back to the evocative paintings of Albert Pinkham Ryder, drawing us into the location of the crime. Other images are shockingly explicit: the menacing axe and thick footprints allude to police photographic evidence, while the male silhouette suggests a mug shot. And the hand holding a teacup (the victim perhaps?) makes reference to film stills.
In contrast to the songs (and most likely any contemporaneous news accounts), Smith deliberately dispenses with a time-dependent linear narrative, opting instead to display several moments simultaneously. The effect is not so much “the truth” about a murder but “a truth” told without words. The trope of the murder-mystery in American culture is ubiquitous, and Smith’s iteration in The Ballad of Delia makes a compelling episode.
Biography
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 The Ballad of Delia, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
2013 Diversions, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
2011 Bubble, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
2008 Street Watch, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
2006 Similitudes, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
2003 Articles of Faith, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
2002 Rock, Paper, Scissors, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
2000 Drive, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
1998 In Patria, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
1996 Fiction, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
1996 Interior Journal, Kim Foster Gallery, New York
1995 Witness, Kim Foster Gallery, NY
1993 American Stories, Amelie A Wallace Gallery, SUNY College Old Westbury, NY
1990 Charlie’s Retired: A Walk Along the Berlin Wall, Tamiment Institute, NYU, NY
1984 Matchmaker Gallery, Louisville, KY
1983 East Wing Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 “Come In From The Cold” Kim Foster Gallery, NY
2012 “Urban/Suburban,” Islip Art Museum, curated by Karen Shaw, East Islip, NY
2012 “What’s My Line,” Kim Foster Gallery, NY
2011 “Night” Kim Foster Gallery, NY
2008 “183rd Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art,” National Academy of Design, New York, NY
2006 ‘Terrain” Kim Foster Gallery, NY
“Information Insight Interruption” HallSpace, curated by Martha Buskirk, Boston, MA
2005 “The Diversity Show” Credit Suisse First Boston, curated by Betty Levin, New York, NY
2001 Greene County Gallery, Catskill, NY
1999 Messages, Lower East Side Printshop, New York, NY; Birmingham Museum,
England: Leipziger Lichdruck Werkstatt, Germany.
1998 Paper +, Dieu Donne Papermill, Curated by Jacqueline Brody (catalogue) NY
Camera Ready?, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY
Album: 30 Years at the Lower East Side Printshop 1968-98, New York, NY
1997 Transferring Culture, La Mama Galleria, NY
1996 Special Editions from the Lower East Side Printshop, Amos Eno Gallery, NY
Photo Works, Omni Gallery, Uniondale, NY
Summer Exhibition, Spazi Contemporary Art, Housatonic, MA
Art 1996 Chicago, IL
1995 Deviants, Perverts, Aliens and Feminazis, Ceres Gallery, NY
Selections from the Lower East Side Printshop, La Mama Galleria, NY
Re/Defining Lesbians: Power-Transition, Esperanza Peace and Justice, TX
Benefit Exhibition, The Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1994 Beyond the Label, Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford, CT
New Space: Group Show, Foster Peet Gallery, NY
In Every Generation: Photographs by Women, Tweed Gallery, New York
1993 Beyond Photography, Foster Peet Gallery, New York, NY
Social Studies/Public Monuments, Center for Photography, Woodstock, NY
The New Modernists, Robin Rice Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Paper-The Essential Material, Dieu Donne selections, Harper/Collins Gallery
Selections, Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, NY
1992 Homeplace, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
Salon Exhibition, Art in General, New York, NY
Photography=Art, Robin Rice Gallery, New York, NY
The Independent Show, Galeria El Bohio, New York, NY
1991 Choice, AIR Gallery, New York, NY
The First Decade, Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, NY
Opening Spaces, HOME for Contemporary Theater and Art, NY
City (Views), Ward Nasse Gallery, New York, NY
Photo Alternatives, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1990 Generations/Regenerations, Robin Rice Gallery, New York, NY
Parkside National Small Print Exhibtion, University of Wisconsin, Kenosha
From the Streets of New York, Loft Gallery, Seibu Dept. Store, Japan
Multiples, Chastin Galleries, Atlanta, GA
First Amendment Exhibtion, Williamsburgh/Greenpoint Assoc., Brooklyn, NY
Women of the 90s’ Emerging Women Artists, Renee Fotouhi, New York NY
Printed at the Lower East Side Printshop, City Gallery, New York, NY
1989 Twenty First Anniversary Exhibition, Lower East Side Printshop, New York
Drawing 1989, Bringham Young University, Provo, Utah
National Juried Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
New Prints Northeast, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
1988 Big Little Show, Ammo Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1987 The House that Jack Built, Foreman Gallery, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY
COLLABORATIONS
1991 Photomural for Where Blood Began, Lucia. Dance performance by David Alan Harris, PS 122, New York, NY 1992: Re-Performed at BACA, Brooklyn, NY 1993: Re-Performed at Dance Theater Workshop, NY
1987 Projection sets for Uneasy Virtue. Dance performance at St Mark’s Church 1990: Re-performed at Spoke the Hub, Brooklyn, NY
AWARDS
1995 Special Editions Grant, Lower East Side Printshop, NY
1990 Canadian Arts Council, Foreign Visiting Artist Grant, Univ. of Regina
1990 Artists Space Individual Artists Grant
1981 William Graft Scholarship, Hunter College
PUBLICATIONS
1999 Luciana James and Judith Watts, The Art of Enhanced Photography: Beyond the Photographic Image, Rockport Publishers, Inc.; Gloucester, MA.
1997 New Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams.
1992 “The Americans” Twenty-page photographic project published October, vol. 61
1990 Installation Totalitni Zona multi media at the former monument to Stalin Sponsored by Linhart’s Foundation, Prague, Czechoslovakia (catalogue)
REVIEWS
2003 Vince Aletti “Voice Choices: E.E. Smith at Kim Foster,” Village Voice, November 12
2002 Jonathan Goodman “E.E. Smith at Kim Foster,” Art In America, September 2002
1996 Helen Harrison “Emerging Artists and Irish Works,” New York Times Sunday July 21, 1996 Review of “Photo Works” at Omni Gallery.
1996 Therese Lichtenstein “E.E. Smith: Interior Journal” essay at Kim Foster
1995 Helen Harrison “Of Urban Landscapes and Repetition,” New York Times Dec 10, 1995, Review of “Medium as Metaphor” at Omni Gallery.
1994 Martha Buskirk “E.E. Smith: Witness” essay at Kim Foster
1993 Thomas Lail “Photographs break up single view of world” The Times Union (Albany, NY) May 13, 1993 p. 23
1993 Phyllis Braff “Diverse Images Functioning as Tools of History and Meaning,” New York Times, Sunday, March 21, 1993, Review of “American Stories”
1993 Vivian Raynor “Bronx Artist Conjures Haunting Dreamscapes,” New York Times, Sunday, February 21, 1993, p. 14
1993 Virginia Rutledge “Partial Documents: Contemporary Photography on the Street,” in Social Studies/Public Monuments Center Quarterly (Center for Photography at Woodstock) #55 pp 4-11.
1993 Martha Buskirk “E.E. Smith and the Power of Images,” essay for “American Stories” Amelie A Wallace Gallery at SUNY College at Old Westbury, Old Westbury, NY ill
1991 Susan Felleman and Peter Chametzky “New York Entedeckt Brooklyn” Zyma Art Today No 5 (November/December) pp 6-15