Summary
- Kearsey & Gold is showcasing Burn Down the House by American artist Lucien Smith until July 17
- The exhibition includes a series of small airbrushed works that explore fulfillment, ambition, and collapse through the image of Dorothy’s airborne house in The Wizard of Oz
- The show marks Smith’s debut U.K. presentation, as well as his first solo show since opening his restaurant, FOOD
After nearly a year as FOOD head chef, Lucien Smith returns to the canvas for Burn Down the House, his first U.K. solo at Kearsey & Gold. Running through July 17, the show features a new suite of airbrush paintings, centered on a single subject: Dorothy’s house falling through the sky from The Wizard of Oz.
Grainy, miniature canvases thread through the London gallery, each a varied shot of the airborne house; no rainbow, ruby slippers, or even the imminent crash. Smith uses the image as a metaphor for uncertainty and the loss of control — when, not the rug, but the house in its entirety is pulled from under your feet. “Everything you’ve built, thrown up in the air,” he wrote. “I want to know what’s on the other side of that.”
Over the last few years, Smith has spoken openly about rediscovering and honing his artistry after the rise (and fall) of becoming an overnight success. He fled to Montauk to start anew, and created Serving the People, his artist-focused non-profit, along the way. He’s since returned to New York to head his restaurant FOOD, also adorned with airbrush works. Burn Down the House marks Smith’s first show since opening the spot last fall.
For his ongoing London exhibition, Smith cites a list of inspirations — Martha Rosler, Cady Noland, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer’s “Protect Me From What I Want,” and “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads — all of which play on the gap between desire and fulfillment and the uneasy aftermath after achieving the American Dream.
“Even though I am not telling you to burn it down, I am asking you if you could,” Smith continued. “I am asking you to think about what we are actually building when we say we are building a life, and what it all might mean, in the half-second before the house comes crashing down.”
Burning Down the House is now on view in London.
Kearsey & Gold
76 Brewer St,
London W1F 9TX,
United Kingdom
