Lionel Smit presents 'Obscura' at the M.O.C.A, North Miami

The exhibition by South African Contemporary Artist Lionel Smit is his first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. Lionel Smit is recognized globally for his monumentally scaled portraitures depicted through mixed media.

In his works, Lionel digs beneath the skin to unfold the multidimensional nature of the individual by creating colorful and inventive interpretations. Smit's imaginative paintings, prints, sculptures, video and public installations focus on the residents of Cape Town, South Africa, in abstract and representational portraits. The frequent subjects of his works are from the ethnic Cape Malay community and are most often women.

In "Obscura," Smit fuses gestural brushstrokes, splashed and splattered paint, and captivating pigments of color with a realistic representation of the heads and faces of his subjects on a large scale. The bold surfaces of Smit's paintings are echoed in the clay form, which he uses to create bronze and resin portraiture sculptures. These sculptures also demonstrate the blend of naturalism and abstract expressionism, with modeled and textured surfaces.