Roxa Smith (b. 1962, Caracas, Venezuela) is a Brooklyn-based artist working in figurative painting, collage, and embroidery. Originally from Venezuela, she earned a BA in Art History and German from Bowdoin College and a Postgraduate degree in Fine Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In California, she was an active participant of a group of 'plein-air' painters led by Lundy Siegrist and Terry St. John, one of the original Bay Area 'plein air' painters of the 1970s. Being part of this group cemented her love for painting and in particularly at that point in landscape painting, which she focused on until she moved to New York City in 1991.

In the 1990s, New York City was not the visually beautiful city it is today. Not inspired to paint the landscape of New York City, Smith turned to painting people's interiors, which were full of life and color. Over the course of years, Smith worked on a variety of other subject matter such as Animals in Interiors, Mindscapes and Toys and Robots. However, Smith's love for interpreting every day contemporary life has always anchored her art. Besides painting, Smith has also explored paper collage using the themes of chairs and bicycles. Since the pandemic, Smith has continued re-interpreting contemporary indoor scenes focusing in particular on plants and chairs. Her colorful paintings have evolved into familiar and idiosyncratic reconsiderations of space where patterns and details reign supreme.

Smith's exhibitions include a solo show at C24 Gallery, NYC (March 2023), a sold-out two-person exhibit at the same gallery (2022), and the featured artist at the Pocket Art Museum’s spring exhibit in Austin, TX (2023). Her work has also been exhibited at The Focus Gallery, Sheldon Museum (Lincoln, NE), The Rodger Smith Hotel (NYC), Kenise Barnes Fine Arts (NY), Conde Nast Lobby (NYC), George Billis Gallery (NYC and LA), and Visage Arte Contemporaneo (Panama).

Notable awards include: 2025 Arts to Hearts Project 100 Emerging Artists merit award, Artist Grant from the Vermont Studio Center (2021), finalist for the MTA Arts and Design commission (2017), the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)-Basil Alkazi Fellowship (2013) and a NYFA painting fellowship in 2012.

Smith's work has been featured in publications such as 100 Emerging Artists 2025 Arts to Hearts Project, Contemporary Collage Magazine (2024), Brooklyn-Rail Magazine (2023), I Like Your Work (Fall 2024, Spring 2023), Interlocutor Magazine, Viceversa Magazine (2022), Studio Visit Magazine (2024, 2022, 2011), Artspace Magazine (2019), New American Painting Magazine (2012), The New York Times (2015), and HuffPost (2012).






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Roxa Smith