Studies in Residency
Recent Projects
-
![AIPAD Installation View]()
The 45th edition of The Photography Show presented by AIPAD
Park Avenue Armory
New York CityApril 22 - 26, 2026
FOCAL POINT SECTOR:
Central Server Works,
Los Angeles, CA
Artist: Lenard Smith -
![Installation View]()
Lenard Smith: Fortuitous Encounters
California Museum of Photography
January 24, 2026 to July 26, 2026
Lenard Smith: Fortuitous Encounters is curated by Kathryn Poindexter-Akers,
Head of Exhibitions at UCR ARTS: California Museum of PhotographFree and open to the public
-
![Broadsheet Cover Design]()
Lenard Smith: Regarding Structures
Central Server Works is proud to announce the gallery’s first art fair presentation, debuting at NADA Miami 2025 with Regarding Structures, a solo installation of photography by Los Angeles–based interdisciplinary artist Lenard Smith
(b. 1975). -
![Lenard Smith standing in creek]()
Refuge by Lenard Smith
98 pages, 14.5 x 22 cm, OTA-bind softcover with flaps
Perimeter Editions 102
First Edition of 800
ISBN: 978-1-922545-29-9
Publication date: April 2024
Printed by Wilco Art Books, Netherlands
Published by Perimeter Editions
Melbourne, Australia
Editors:
Justine Ellis, Ash Holmes, Dan Rule
Text: Fritz Haeg
Design: Narelle Brewer for Perimeter Bureau
Lithography: Mariska Bijl, Wilco Art Books -
![Framed Photograph from Solo Exhibition at As-Is Gallery]()
Museum Acquisition
Wallis Annenberg Department of Photographs Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Permanent Collection
Purchased with funds provided by the LENS: Photography Council
LENS: Photography Council (LENS) supports the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department
-
![Gallery Installation View]()
Lenard Smith: Spatial Studies
As-Is, Los Angeles, CA
April 22, 2023 - June 10, 2023 -
![Documentation of Book]()
Melancholy Objects by Lenard Smith
110 pages, 21 x 12.5 cm, perfect bind, softcover with dust jacket
Perimeter Editions 079
First Edition of 500
ISBN 978-1-922545-12-1
Publication date: October 2022
Printed by Printgraphics, Australia
Published by Perimeter Editions, Melbourne
Editors: Justine Ellis and Dan Rule
Design: Narelle Brewer for Perimeter Bureau
Assistant editor: Ash Holmes
Studio
MacDowell Fellow, Fall 2024
Six week Artist Residency
Peterborough, New Hampshire
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Three month Artist Residency
Omaha, Nebraska
Lightwork
One month Artist Residency
Syracuse, New York
Selected Works
2026
Dream Home
Neighborhood Watch
Parrots
Research
2023
Channels and Runoff
New Markers
Recruitment
Space and Volume
Research
2020
Fortuitous Encounter
A Symphony of Sounds
Research
2017
Sadness
2014
Relocation - NYC > L.A.
2011
Scans and Experiments
Harlem
Chicago Pictures
Research
2008
Portraits
Research
2025
Long Term Engagement
Regarding Structures
Proposals
Grandeur and Grit
Space and Volume
Research
2022
Melancholy Objects
Unconquered People
Outdoor Warning Siren System
Youth for Greater Good
Maquettes
Valley of Fire
2019
Fortuitous Encounter
A Symphony of Sounds
Research
2016
Still Life
Research
2013
Various Photographs
Research
2010
The Future of Things
Fewer Particulars
A Change of Scenery
Research
2007
Park Nursing Home
Research
2024
Long Term Engagement
Regarding Structures
Proposals
Grandeur and Grit
A Quick Analysis
Research
2021
Last Departure
Hiding Nothing
Form Build Studies
Tufas Spires Pinnacles
Crafting the Future
Out of Babylon
Research
2018
Fortuitous Encounter
A Symphony of Sounds
Independence Affect
Research
2015
Mystery
Portraits
Landscapes
2012
Some Configurations
Research
2009
Portraits
We’re Still Here
Rangefinder Vol.1
Street Photography
2006
Park Nursing Home
Singular Images
Research
information
Inquiries: studio@lenardsmith.work
Studio: Los Angeles, CA
Lenard Smith (b. 1975) is a first-generation Ghanaian-American artist and educator who lives and works in Los Angeles. Smith combines his academic research interests, both the African diaspora and architecture, with photography, assemblage sculpture, painting,
field recording, and film/video. He has exhibited his work throughout the United States and abroad; published nine artist books, including Refuge (Perimeter Editions, 2024), Melancholy Objects (Perimeter Editions, 2022), A Change of Scenery
(Pau Wau Publications, 2013); and contributed photography to The New York Times, The Atlantic,
and G2 | The Guardian.
His work is included in the permanent collections of The Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA),
The Whitney and Lee Kaplan African American Visual Culture Collection at the Getty Research Institute, and Light Work (Syracuse, NY), among others. Smith is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow. He received an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from Bard College, which grounds his work in traditional practices and experimental methodologies. From 2023 - 2025, Smith was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at the University of California, Riverside. In the Fall of 2025, Smith joined the faculty community at the University of Southern California, Roski School of Art and Design, teaching Large Format Photography. For the Spring 2026 Semester, Smith will return to USC to teach Topics in Advanced Photography.
Inquiries: studio@lenardsmith.work
Los Angeles, CA
All artworks appearing on the Lenard Smith Studio website are copyrighted and protected under United States and international copyright laws. The works on this website may not be reproduced in any form, stored, or manipulated without prior written permission from Lenard Smith Studio.
Copyright © 2026 Lenard Smith
Website Design: CASEWORK STUDIO
Press
The Guardian
ART news
OFFICE Magazine
Institutional Affiliation
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
University of California, Riverside
Cal State Fullerton University