As his friends and admirers rush forward with an outpouring of grief after the too-early death of Lucien Smith, a lot of folks might be wondering what to do in the face of loss.
One thing, of course, is to reach out to friends and see how they’re doing, especially if you know they’ve had a tough time. In the case of artists who got exploited to hell by the art speculation and celebrity system when they were young, maybe don’t make that experience or that work—or the art world itself—the point, especially right now. And if you could get past all that while they’re still around, all the better.
Another thing one could do to mitigate loss, specifically in this case, is to help recover the ten Lucien Smith paintings stolen in late 2015, soon after they were made. [Thanks in these difficult times to Yoshi Hill for the heads up on the theft.]
The works are all listed sequentially on Smith’s studio website, toward the end of the 2015 works, and are labeled as sold. The FBI’s National Stolen Art File does not disclose the date of the theft or report. But two case numbers later is the theft of Harmony Korine’s giant painting from the lobby of the Puck Building, which happened over Halloween weekend.
Smith’s missing paintings are all small, oils on linen, and could easily fit in a single box or carry-on. Is that how they got jacked? One whole box?
In a 2016 interview Smith described leaving NYC for Montauk and making these small representational paintings from photographs as part of “an existential crisis about trying to figure out why I even make art”:
LS: If nothing matters, then what’s the point of making anything? To satisfy some art market? Or is it because I take pleasure in making paintings? I’ve been trying to understand what the point is. Lately, I’ve just understood that if my time here is limited, I should enjoy my experience, enjoy nature, and enjoy people. Which is why I’ve spent most of my time going on trips and photographing and developing interests that bleed into what I’m painting.
With the Internet and phones today, there’s this thing about escapism. We’re constantly looking at images to try to teleport ourselves from whatever situation we currently are in. But back in the 19th century, they didn’t have that. The reproduction of images wasn’t as accessible as it is now. So they actually had to travel to the countryside to find these picturesque settings. But most of the images that I paint from today are from photographs.
SSENSE: So you’re in the countryside and painting other countrysides from your phone.
LS: Also publications, magazines, and books. Scanning these images. I live here, but I’m not necessarily going out to the bluff painting that view. I’m maybe painting views of things, places that I wish I could travel to but I can’t, and then also places that have a more conceptual significance.
The rest of the stolen Lucien Smiths are of parts of human bodies, ailing or dead. All our time here is limited.