WORDS FOR ART

Dr Damian Smith (PhD RMIT, MA Art.Cur Uni Melb, Pgrad Art.Hist Uni Melb, BFA RMIT) is a curator, art historian, academic and gallery director whose interests include contemporary Australian art, contemporary Chinese art, and expanded curatorial practice. In 2009 he established Words For Art as a freelance curatorial consultancy.

Following research undertaken in Beijing, China Dr Smith’s bi-lingual monograph ‘The Geoff Raby Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art’ was published in 2018, with subsequent editions being issued by the University of Western Sydney and La Trobe University Press an imprint of Black Inc. The publication builds on many curatorial projects in the PRC.

Dr Smith served as the inaugural Secretary of AICA Australia, (the International Association of Art Critics, sponsored by UNESCO), and was a presenter at AICA World Congresses in Havana and Taipei. In 2019 he was appointed as the inaugural President of the Australian Chinese Art Research Institute, based in Melbourne.

He is a Fellow at the Centre of Visual Art (CoVA), VCA/MCM, University of Melbourne; he lectures there in Critical & Theoretical Studies (Art) and has supervised and assessed higher degrees by research.

Building on many years working in Cuba and Latin America, he curated the work of 10 Australian artists into the 13th Havana Biennale, 2019.

In 2016 The State Library of Victoria established the Damian Smith Archive. The repository houses copies of his essays and articles on contemporary art, including more than 100 exhibition catalogues as well as artworks and ephemera related to Australian and international contemporary art. The archive is an ongoing project that maps developments in contemporary Australian art through the work of myriad artists.

He has written extensively on Australian Modernism and is a world-renowned scholar on the work of Sidney Nolan (1917-1992).

Our curatorial projects include biennales, survey exhibitions, group and solo shows. Words For Art is experienced in developing large-scale installations and intimate salon exhibitions. We work with major institutions, with universities and individuals and in a wide variety of settings. Our projects include:

2022

Bronek Kozka: Imperfect Beauty of the Sublime, ACAE Gallery

Jaedon Shin: All Together Now, ACAE Gallery

In Focus: Conversations with Eight Contemporary Artists, ACAE Gallery (featuring works by Kwong Man Chun, Sarah Mottram, Bess Xueyang Hu, David Freney-Mills, Chen Few, Gonkar Gyatso, Tony Scott, Zhou Yinong)

Minh Phan: Flight of the Phoenix, ACAE Gallery

2021

The Art of Zhou Xiaoping in Aboriginal Australia, Australia China Art Exchange, Melbourne

David Freney-Mills: A Reign of Green / Green Rain House, Australia China Art Exchange, Melbourne

2020

be. (your collection) remembered, Museum of Art and Culture Yapang, New South Wales

Bess Xueyang Hu: Solitary Times, Australia China Art Exchange, Melbourne, Melbourne

Anne Spudvilas & Jiang Jianwen: Children’s book illustrations, Australia China Art Exchange, Melbourne

Gary Willis: Landscapes & Portraits Commissions, Australia China Art Exchange, Melbourne

2019

Shin Jaedon: The Other World, Australia China Art Exchange, Melbourne

Australian pavilion, Casa de Asia, 13th Bienal de la Habana, Cuba: The Construction of the Possible

Featuring: Mia Salsjö, Rushdi Anwar, Angela Tiatia, Robyn Latham, Ben Morieson, Riza Manalo, Ian Haig, Martine Corompt, Mick Douglas, Dominic Redfern, Claire McCracken

SEE: https://vimeo.com/339246929

 2018

Intercambio: Cuba Australia Video Exchange, Blindside, Melbourne, featuring Susana Pilar Delhante Matienzo, Adriana Arronte Rodríguez, Diana Fonseca Quiñones, Mia Salsjö, Robyne Latham, Angela Tiatia, Naivy Peréz

Selected works from Martumili: Nora Wompi, Nora Nungabar and Bugai Whyoulter, Project Space, RMIT University

2017


Art At The Heart, Shire of East Pilbara, Western Australia, international artist residency with Yasuaki Onisihi (Japan), Hannah Quinlivan (Australia), Oliniyi Rasheed Akandiyi (Nigeria)

SEE: https://vimeo.com/458351060

Paperhood: Bluestonia, China / Australia cultural exchange, featuring Phiip Faulks & Zhou Yunhua, RMIT University, Jiangsu Government, China

2015 - 2019


Intercambio, five-year inter-cultural research project culminating in a presentation of works by 9 Australian artists at the 13th Bienal de la Habana, Cuba 2019 (funded by RMIT, DFAT, Creative Victoria, City of Melbourne)

2015 


Forty Acts of Remembering, Multicultural Arts Victoria, Melbourne

Mia Salsjo: The New Age is a Cult, MARS Gallery, Melbourne 


Paper Culture: Philip Faulks & Zhou Yunhua, Changzhou Museum, Jiangsu China

2014 


Vietnam / Australia: Voicing the Unspoken, Human Rights Arts & Film Festival, Melbourne, featuring Minh Phan, Khue Nguyen, Phuong Ngo

2013 


Ping Pong: Greg Creek & Jorge Julián Aristizábal, Design Research Institute RMIT, funded by the Government of Colombia, Multicultural Arts Victoria, and RMIT University 

2012 


Heartlands Refugee Fine Art Prize, Multicultural Art Victoria, Melbourne

Rubaba Haider, Words For Art, Art Melbourne 


Sifting Time..., Chinese Museum, Melbourne 


Ma Late: Burmese art in Australia, Point Nepean National Park

2011 


Connexion / Confienza – Connection / Trust, Centro de los Artes, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and Karen Casey: Woven Histories - the gift of light, Centro de los Artes, San Agustin Etlan, Oaxaca, Mexico. Funded by RMIT University and the Centro Nacional de las Artes (CENART), Mexico

Documentation of the Whittelsea City Council’s Cultural Collection, identifying significant works and producing didactics for several hundred works, including bronze plaques for public sculptures

Sidney Nolan Drought Photographs, Australian Galleries, Melbourne & Sydney

Bayside: Live, Work, Play, The inaugural exhibition of the Bayside Arts & Cultural Centre, Brighton Melbourne

Heartlands: Refugee Fine Art Prize, fortyfivedownstairs, Multicultural Arts Victoria in association with Adult Multicultural Education Services 

2009


Sidney Nolan: A Magnificent Obsession, Maroondah Art Gallery

Claire Busuttil Bridge, Maroondah Art Gallery 


Lin Onus: Meaning of Life, Maroondah Art Gallery and touring venues

2008 


Drawing the line: Perspectives in Contemporary Australian Abstraction, Maroondah Art Gallery, featuring David Harley, Raafat Ishak, Kerrie Polliness,

Yosl Bergner Works on Paper 1975 - 2000, Maroondah Art Gallery

Crossing Currents: New Indigenous Perspectives, Maroondah Art Gallery featuring Robyn Latham, Ellen José, Karen Casey, Gayle Maddigan

Chinese Ceramics Through The Ages, Maroondah Art Gallery

 Barbara Morely: Voices Memories Echoes, Maroondah Art Gallery

 2007 


Gary Willis: Melbourne Moderne, Maroondah Art Gallery

Sam Fisher: The Emperor's New Border Protection, Maroondah Art Gallery

Heading North: Contemporary Asian Artists in Australia, Maroondah Art Gallery


From The Heart: Indigenous Artists Envisioning The Sacred, Maroondah Art Gallery


Carved: Wood Sculptures by Mike Nicholls, Maroondah Art Gallery

Yirrkala and Beyond: Bark paintings and works on paper 1935 - 2000, Maroondah Art Gallery

2006


Unmasked: Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly 1950-1990, Heide Museum of Modern Art

Chandraguptha Thenuwara: Barrelism, Maroondah Art Gallery

Sara Lindsay: Serendip, Maroondah Art Gallery and touring venues

2005 


Robert Janz: Postrix, & Adam Dant: Donald Parsnips Daily Journals, Maroondah Art Gallery

Tony Scott: Two Journeys, Maroondah Art Gallery

2004 


Via Vai, Museo Castello Ducale, Palena, Museo Basillico Colle Maggio, Chieti, Palazzo Chisterna, Torino, Italy and Counihan Gallery Melbourne

Drawing Dust, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing 


2004 Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramics Award, Shepparton Art Gallery  

Petrus Spronk: Meditations on a Korean odyssey, Shepparton Art Gallery

Heidelberg and beyond, Shepparton Art Gallery

2003


Sidney Nolan and the Photographic Eye, National Gallery of Victoria

Damian Smith has been an arts writer for more than 25 years. He has written more than 100 published articles, books and papers, including peer reviewed works, monographs and exhibition catalogues.

ACADEMIC TEXTS

Smith D (ed.) The Geoff Raby Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art. First published in 2018 by Words For Art, Beijing. Second edition published in 2018 Western Sydney University. Third edition published by La Trobe University Press (LTUP) a joint imprint of Black Inc.

“LTUP publishes leading scholars and experts, producing books of high intellectual quality, substance and originality.”

PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

Smith, D 2022 Melbourne’s Australasian Cultural Arts Exchange in Green, J. (ed.), TAASA Review, The Journal of the Asian Arts Society of Australia, Volume 31: Issue 4, Sydney, December 2022

Smith, D 2021 The Geoff Raby Collection of Chinese Art at La Trobe University inGreen, J. (ed.), TAASA Review, The Journal of the Asian Arts Society of Australia, Volume 30: Issue 2, Sydney, June 2021

McLennan, K. (ed.), Lee, M., Smith, D., (assoc. eds.), Yin, C., Ormond-Parker, L., Smith, D., Lee, M., Zhou, X., Convergence: The Art of Zhou Xiaoping in Aboriginal Australia, Touring exhibition: Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne, ACIAC Western Sydney University, Live in Art, Sydney, ACAE Gallery, Melbourne, published by Western Sydney University, 2020

Smith D 2018 ‘Xiao Lu’s Dialogue’, in 2018 AICA International Congress Taiwan: Art Criticism in the Age of Virtuality and Democracy, 16–18 November, Taipei, AICA Taiwan, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Taipei University of Education: Department of Art and Design, Critical and Curatorial Studies of Contemporary Art at NTUE, Museum of NTUE, Taiwan

Smith D (ed.) Alvarez L (trans.) 2016 Intercambio: A Conversation Between Two Trains – La Bienal de la Habana, RMIT University 

Smith D 2014 ‘Lindy Lee: Zen Buddhism As Artistic Process’, in Helmrich, M, (curator), Lindy Lee: The Dark of Absolute Freedom, exhib. cat., Queensland University Museum, published by Queensland University Press 

Smith D 2014 ‘John Perceval and the Angels’, in Paisley, K, (curator), Delinquent Angel: John Perceval’s Ceramic Angels, Shepparton Art Gallery

Smith D (curator) 2012 Art and Trust in Mexico, Design Research Institute, RMIT University

Smith D 2012 Initiating Moonboy: Secret Symbolism in Sidney Nolan’s ‘Snake’, School of Art, University of Tasmania

Smith D 2012 ‘Lindy Lee: Making Time’, in Kent R (curator), Marking Time, exhib. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney

Smith D 2011 ‘Lindy Lee: Painting With Fire’, Art & Australia, Volume 49, no.2, December 2011

Smith D 2006 ‘Nolan Through Kelly’, in Morgan K & Smith D (curators), Unmasked: Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly 1950 - 1990, exhib. cat., Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne

Smith D 2003 ‘Sidney Nolan and the Photographic Eye’, in Smith G & Smith D (curators), Sidney Nolan: Desert and Drought, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Casey K & Smith D 2013 ‘Global Mind Field: A Cybernetic Perspective’, in Cleland K, Fisher L & Harley R (eds) Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium of Electronic Art, ISEA2013, Sydney, Published by ISEA International, the Australian Network for Art & Technology and the University of Sydney, ISBN: 978-0-646-91313- 1 http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/ bitstream/2123/9759/1/globalmindfield.pdf 

MONOGRAPHS

Smith D (forthcoming) Gary Willis Post Conceptual Painter 1970-2025, Words For Art

Smith D 2023 ‘Visiting the Ancestors’ in Angie Pai: Why You Like This, Chaos. Writers include Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, James J. Robinson, Jason Phu, Leah Jing McIntosh, Lily Goodwin, Panda Wong, Sebastian Henry-Jones, Tasha Tylee, Con Gerakaris, and Damian Smith.

Smith D 2012 ‘Matthew Bax: A picture is a picture is a stupid little picture’, in Pappas, A & Smith, D, Matthew Bax: Pretty little stupid pictures, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 ‘Wayne Warren: Something from nothing’, in Dyer, J, Smith, D & Warren, W, Wayne Warren, China Art Projects, Beijing

Smith D 2008 ‘The Portraits’ (Chap. 3), ‘The Tasmanian Landscape’ (Chap.4), ‘The Abstract Landscapes’ (Chap. 9), in Dyer, G, Pierce, P & Smith, D, Geoff Dyer: A Tasmanian Perspective, published by Geoff Dyer, Tasmania

Smith D 2007 ‘Mike Nicholls: A powerful and indelible vision’, in Crawford, A & Smith D, Mike Nicholls: A work in progress, published by Mike Nicholls, Printed by Hinkler Books Australia

Smith D 2000 ‘Gary Willis and the Impossible Dream’, in Marsh, A, Smith, D & Willis, G, Diary of a Dead Beat Modern Art Type Gary Willis 1972-1982, Gulag Publishing

EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

2024

Smith D 2024 ACAE Gallery: The Australasian Cultural Arts Exchange, ACAE Gallery

2023

Smith D 2023 David Freney Millis: Hyperglyphs, ACAE Gallery

Smith D 2023 Tony Smibert: Tao Sublime, ACAE Gallery

Smith D 2023 Elmira Ng: 100 Children at Play, ACAE Gallery – digital catalogue

2022

Smith D 2022 Jaedon Shin: Paintings & Works on Paper, ACAE Gallery

Smith D 2022 Bronek Kozka: The Imperfect Beauty of the Sublime, ACAE Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2022 Ah Xian’s New Works on Paper: Fledging, Vermillion Gallery, Sydney

Smith D (ed.), Guan L (curator, translator) 2022 Silent Ritual: The Paintings of Zai Kuang & Xiaoyu Bai, ACAE Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2022 Minh Phan: Flight of the Phoenix, ACAE Gallery, Melbourne

2021

Smith D 2021 Marieke Dench: Comparable Consequences, Chapman & Bailey, Melbourne

2019

Smith D 2019 Shin Jaedon: The Other World, ACAE Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2019 Beyond the Light: He Zige, 541 Asia Art Space, Sydney

2018

Smith D 2018 Hoovanah in the highest: Jacqui Stockdale and the post-colonial lens, THIS IS NO FANTASY / Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Nicola Stein, Melbourne

Smith D 2018 James Smeaton: Traversing the Wallace Line, Scott Livesey Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2018 Robin Astely: From Here to Eternity, Private View, Melbourne

2017

Smith D 2017 One gallery, two countries, seven artists and many intersections, in ‘Intercambio: Cuba Australia Video Exchange’, Blindside, Melbourne

Smith D 2017 Art at the Heart, International Artist Residency, Shire of East Pilbara

2016

Smith D 2016 Marieke Dench: Swatch, Chapman & Bailey, Melbourne

2015

Smith D 2015 Mia Salsjö: The new age is a cult, Mars Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2015 Paper Culture, Changzhou Museum, China

 2014

Smith D 2014 Marieke Dench’s monument to colour, Chapman & Bailey

Smith D 2014 Mia Salsjö: The value of engagement, Bali Artist Camp, Made Budiana Gallery, Bali

 2013

Smith D 2013 ‘A.R.T – what does it mean?’ in Process Presence, Words For Art, (Italian translation: Cristina Maras), ISBN -13: 978-0-9875155-0-6

Smith D 2013 Co-variance, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick

2012

Smith D 2012 ‘Curator’s statement’, 2012 Heartlands Refugee Fine Art Prize, Multicultural Arts Victoria & AMES, fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne, Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong

Smith D 2012 Sifting Time..., Chinese Museum, Melbourne

2011

Smith D 2011 Bayside: Live, Work, Play, Bayside Arts & Cultural Centre, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 ‘Curator's Statement’, in Heartlands: Refugee Fine Art Prize, Multicultural Arts Victoria & AMES, fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Cutting Space: New sculptural works by Ewen Coates, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Charting new terrain: Unseen histories in the art of Annabel Nowlan, Anita Traverso Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Cyrus Tang: Scenes from the crystal city, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Jayne Dyer, Uber Gallery, Melbourne,

Smith D 2011 Joanne Mott: Another Turn, MARS Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Karen Casey: Convex/Converse: hands across the Pacific, New Zealand Academy of the Arts, Wellington

Smith D 2011 OAO: Jesse Marlow, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Paradise....a hell of a place, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Project 12: This is not a love song, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Rod Moss: Dark days in the outback, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 Sidney Nolan Drought Photographs, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2010

Smith D 2010 China Art Projects at Melbourne Art Fair, China Art Projects, Beijing

Smith D 2010 Owen Leong: Dreaming of Butterflies, in ‘Birthmark’, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2010 Dependant Arisal in the work of Gonkar Gyatso, China Art Projects, Beijing

Smith D 2010 Kate Anderson: Surface tensions in Venice & Beijing, Barry Stearn Gallery, Sydney

Smith D 2010 Matt Coyle: The Shades, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2010 ‘Rides a White Horse. Fear in the work of Kate James’, in Kate James, Craft Victoria & Maroondah Art Gallery

Smith D 2010 Post Eden, Today Art Museum, Beijing

2009

Smith D 2009 ‘Celia Ko: Visiting the ancestors’, in Celia Ko: That Moment Now, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Smith D 2009 Lin Onus: Meaning of Life, Maroondah Art Gallery


Smith D 2009 ‘Lindy Lee’, in Tempting God, China Art Projects, Beijing, Stellar Downer Gallery, Sydney

Smith D 2009 Sidney Nolan: A magnificent obsession, Maroondah Art Gallery


Smith D 2009 Strathbogies {North-east Victoria}, James Makin Gallery

2008

Smith D 2008 An artist takes the tour: Anna Caione in Italy, Gallery 101, Melbourne

Smith D 2008 Bronwyn Thompson and the psychoanalytic imagination, Uber Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2008 Chris Delpratt, Maroondah Art Gallery


Smith D 2008 Drawing the line: Perspectives in contemporary Australian abstraction Maroondah Art Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2008 Geoff Dyer, Guangdong Museum, Guangdong, China

Smith D 2008 Huang Xu Fragments / Cultural Landscapes, China Art Projects, Beijing, 2008, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne, 2008, October Gallery, London, 2009

Smith D 2008 Kate Anderson, China Art Projects, Beijing


Smith D 2008 Sara Lindsay: Serendip: Tapestry and Works on Paper 1992 - 2006, Ararat Regional Art Gallery, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart

2007

Smith D 2007 Carolyn Goldberg: Journeys to knowing, Maroondah Art Gallery

Smith D 2007 Confinis, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick

Smith D 2007 Gary Willis: Melbourne Moderne & Sam Fisher: The Emperor's New Border Protection, Maroondah Art Gallery

Smith D 2007 Heading North: Contemporary Asian Artists in Australia, Maroondah Art Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2007 Martin King: South Georgia Island, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2007 Paolo Consorti, Uber Gallery

Smith D 2007 Process / Journey, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China, October

2006

Smith D 2006 ‘Chandraguptha Thenuwara: An artist in the age of war’, in Craft Culture: World: dialogues between cultures through craft, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, February

Smith D 2006 ‘South Georgia Island’, in Hilary, P., & Smith D., South Georgia {sub Antarctica}, MARS Gallery, Melbourne, July, August 2006, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney, November - December 2006, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong, 2007

2005

Smith D 2005 Gan Guan: Observing the senses, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick

2004

Smith D 2004 ‘In search of a perfect ceramic’, in Smith D Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramics Award in association with La Trobe University, Shepparton Art Gallery

Smith D 2004 Petrus Spronk: Meditations on a Korean Odyssey, Shepparton Art Gallery, 20 May - 20 June

Smith D 2004 Via Vai: Comings and Goings, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick

2003

Smith D 2003 Karen Casey: Casting Shadows / Drawing Light, Arc One at Span Galleries, Melbourne

Smith D 2003 Martin King: First Rain, Span Galleries, Melbourne

2002

Smith D 2002 Digital Ghosts, Mass Gallery, Melbourne

Smith D 2002 Karen Casey: Ripple, Span Galleries, Melbourne


Smith D 2002 Tony Scott: Crossing the Bo Hai Gulf, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

2001

Smith D 2001 Tom Fantl: Searches Experiences Statements Time, Span Galleries, Melbourne

2000

Smith D 2000 Karen Casey: Radiant, Span Galleries, Melbourne


PERIODICALS

Smith D 2018 ‘Mexico: A love I can never quite shake’, Garland Magazine, Melbourne, https://garlandmag.com/article/mexico-a-love-i-can-never-quite-shake/

 Smith D 2016 ‘Member of renowned artistic dynasty became determined guardian of Sidney Nolan’s Legacy’, 19 April 2016, The Age, Melbourne

Smith D 2011 ‘Kris Coad's journey...’, World Sculpture News, Hong Kong

 Smith D 2011 ‘Pressing Issues – 2011 Castlemaine Visual Arts Biennale’, IMPRINT Magazine

Smith D 2010 ‘Martin King: A man for all seasons’, Imprint, the quarterly journal of the Print Council of Australia Inc., pp36-37, Volume 45, No.2, Winter

Smith D 2009 ‘Huang Xu’, Photofile Magazine, December 2008 - March 2009
 

Smith D 2009 ‘Smoke gets in my eyes: Gothic capitulation in the work of Samantha Small, Pat Foster & Jen Berean’, Photofile Magazine, Melbourne 

Smith D 2008 ‘Jill Orr: Under the Southern Cross’, Trouble Magazine, April 


Smith D 2006 ‘Peter Townsend. A view from the bar’, Art Monthly Australia, Canberra, Issue 193, September

Smith D 2005 ‘Sophisticated Borrowings, (Margaret Preston)’, Australian Review of Books, Melbourne, March 

Smith D 2004 ‘Shepparton shows off ceramics’, 50s Lifestyle, Issue No 8, Spring

Smith D 2004 ‘For ceramics, think Shepparton’, Coast & Country, Autumn Winter pp66-69 

Smith D 2002 ‘Digital Ghosts’, Imprint, The Quarterly Journal of the Print Council of Australia Inc., Melbourne, March

Words For Art provides services to a wide range of clients, including private galleries, artists, collectors, journals, auctioneers and institutions. Our services include monograph texts, collection research, exhibition catalogues & didactics and historical research. For further information about artists whose work we have written about please forward your email to:  info@wordsforart.com.au

Our articles and projects have been commissioned by:

British Museum, London

Royal Collections, London

International Association of Art Critics, Paris

Bienal de la Habana, Cuba

ISEA Istanbul, the International Symposium of Electronic Art, Turkey

Centro de las Artes, San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico

Centro de las Artes, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Auckland New Zealand

Colombian Foreign Ministry, Canberra

Australian High Commission, Beijing

China Art Projects, Beijing

Red Gate Gallery, Beijing

Today Art Museum, Beijing

ME Photo Art Gallery, Beijing

Guangdong Museum, Guangdong

La Trobe University Press, University of Melbourne, RMIT University, Melbourne, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Deakin University, Melbourne, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, Jiangsu University of Technology, Changzhou Institute of Technology, China

Art & Australia, Art Monthly Australia, Australian Review of Books, Gulag Publishing, Melbourne, Hinkler Books Australia, Imprint Magazine, Photofile Magazine, World Sculpture News, Hong Kong

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Queensland Art Gallery
Art Gallery of South Australia
National Library of Australia

Art Melbourne
Castlemaine Visual Arts Biennial, Castlemaine
Melbourne Festival
Multicultural Arts Victoria, Melbourne
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Museum of Chinese Australian History, Melbourne
October Gallery, London
Polish Art Foundation, Melbourne
Sidney Nolan Trust, Herefordshire
The Global Mind Project, Melbourne
Wheeler Centre, Melbourne

Ararat Regional Gallery, Ararat

Bayside City Council, Melbourne

Benalla Art Gallery, Melbourne

Counihan Gallery, Brunswick

Maroondah Art Gallery, Melbourne

Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton

Whittelsea City Council Art Collection, Melbourne

Australian Galleries, Melbourne & Sydney

Anita Traverso Gallery, Melbourne

Arc One Gallery, Melbourne

Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne

Axia Modern Art, Melbourne

Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

Eva Breur Fine Art, Sydney

Gallery 101, Melbourne

MARS, Melbourne

Paton Gallery, London

Deutscher + Hackett Auction House, Melbourne
Leski's Auctioneers, Melbourne

Public art galleries are a major feature of almost any contemporary city. Public galleries acts as hubs for cultural, civic and economic life, providing unique points of difference on the global stage. Our broad experience across private and public art collections can help to shape the development and direction of your institution. Words For Art provides consultative services for Collection and Museum strategies and management and for the transitioning of private collections into public entities.

The Cultural Gifts Program offers tax incentives to encourage people to donate cultural items to public art galleries, museums, libraries and archives in Australia.

Words For Art provides advice on accessing the Cultural Gifts Program. We can guide you through the necessary steps in donating artworks to eligible public institutions and to accruing significant tax incentives through the gifting of art.

SEE: Cultural Gifts Program

The State Library of Victoria established the Damian Smith Archive in 2016 as a repository recognising Damian’s work as an essayist and curator. It honours the work of myriad contemporary artists, mostly Australian, through maintaining copies of his texts, catalogues and articles on contemporary art. Included here are 15 peer review articles, 5 artist monographs, 74 exhibition catalogues, 13 journal articles, 20 conference papers and 57 curated exhibitions showcasing the work of more than 207 artists as well as artworks and ephemera.

The Archive is an ongoing project that maps developments in contemporary Australian art, primarily through the work of a single curator.

According to Damian Smith:

The idea of building a research archive was inspired by the legendary curator Harald Szeemann (1933-2005), whose papers are housed at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. In curatorial terms, Szeemann is a seminal figure who created such projects as "Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form", 1969. Szeemann’s work has inspired generations of contemporary curators and continues to do so today.

Watch Damian Smith discussing the contents of the Archive

Archive highlights include:

essays on contemporary Australian art,

unique documents on Australian artist Sidney Nolan,

photographic portraits of contemporary Tibetan artists,

primary documents of the 2015 and 2019 iterations of the Havana Biennale (Bienal de la Habana), Cuba

and

artworks by American-Irish conceptualist Robert Janz.

In 2022, with the assistance of Creative Victoria, arts academic and researcher Victoria Perin conducted an analysis of the Archive, with her review published on the State Library of Victoria Blog. According to Perin:

While Smith has worked in and with institutions, primarily, he must be understood as a freelance curator. His curatorial independence is his defining characteristic as an arts worker, and it fundamentally explains why the archive is the way it is.

Perin goes on to say that:

It is rare to find a record of an individual like Smith in a place like State Library Victoria, an institution that is better situated to record the careers of other institutional professionals, such as the senior curators and directors of state or national galleries. However, we must remember that a healthy art community (both local and international) relies on figures that move quickly between commissions, code-switch through high and colloquial cultures, and translate between foreign lands. The record of Damian Smith’s career is the archive of one such figure.

A comprehensive interactive list of included artists can be found here

Dr Smith is a lecturer and tutor in Critical and Theoretical Studies at the VCA/MCM University of Melbourne, and has previously lectured in Museum & Gallery Management at RMIT University. He is a regular speaker at international arts conferences and symposia.

CONFERENCE PAPERS

Smith D 2018 ‘Xiao Lu’s Dialogue’, Art Criticism in the Age of Virtuality and Democracy, International Association of Art Critics World Congress, Museum of National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan

Smith D 2018 ‘Providing Opportunities to Victorian Artists From Diverse Cultural Backgrounds’, Making Your Gallery Inclusive, Public Galleries Association of Victoria

Smith D 2016 ‘Barefoot Curating: Intercambio’, New Utopias: Art, Memory, Context, International Association of Art Critics World Congress, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Habana Cuba

Delegate, Michelangelo Pistoletto: The Third Paradise Conference, Bertolt Brecht Theatre, Havana, Cuba 2015

Smith D 2015 ‘Curating street art’, Art Curatorship: Now & Beyond, University of Melbourne


Special Rapporteur, Ways of Seeing Conference (in honour of the art critic John Berger), Royal Collections, Greenwich, London UK, 2015

Smith D 2015 ‘Art in Public Space in Melbourne’, lecture, Jiangsu University of Technology & Changzhou Institute of Technology, China

Convenor Colombia Australia: Cultural Connections in the 21st Century, Colombian Foreign Ministry, Multicultural Arts Victoria, RMIT University RMIT Design Hub, 2013

Guest Arts Writer, Castlemaine Visual Arts Biennale, 2011

Smith D 2011 Mike Nicholls: Primitive Soul, public seminar, McClelland Gallery, July

Smith D 2011 ‘New Art From Tibet’, Innovasian: Asian Art 1960 to now, Art Gallery of New South Wales, August

Delegate, ISEA International Symposium of Electronic Art, Istanbul, 2011

Delegate, Transitio 04, Mexico City, 2011

Smith D 2011 ‘Damian Smith: Towards a philosophy of curating’, Artist Forum: Pressing Issues, Castelmaine Visual Arts Biennale, La Trobe University, Bendigo, March

Panel moderator, Asia Story: Parts I: The Rise of Chinese Art, Art Melbourne in association with the China Australia Art Foundation, Melbourne, 2012, Speakers: Tamsin Roberts, Yashian Schuable, Maggie McCormack, Song Ling

Panel moderator, Asia Story Part II: The Rise of the Asian Art Market, Art Melbourne in association with the China Australia Art Foundation, Melbourne, 2012, Speakers: Melissa Kavanagh, Dr Annette Van den Bosch, Deborah Salter, Edward Sanderson

Smith D 2009 ‘Let's Shake: Art & Reconciliation’, Parliament of the World's Religions, Melbourne

Smith D 2007 ‘Audience Development’, Public Galleries Association of Victoria, Bendigo Art Gallery

Smith D 2007 ‘From Artist to Curator’, NETS Victoria Curator's Conference, National Gallery of Victoria

Words For Art has extensive experience working in the context of Chinese contemporary art. Research projects include:

‘The Geoff Raby Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art’,

Smith D (ed.) The Geoff Raby Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art. First published in 2018 by Words For Art, Beijing. Second edition published in 2018 Western Sydney University. Third edition published by La Trobe University Press (LTUP) a joint imprint of Black Inc.

“LTUP publishes leading scholars and experts, producing books of high intellectual quality, substance and originality.”

Editor: Smith D (b.1968-)

Contributors include: Ellrodt N, Jose N, Macdonald J, Raby G, Valencia M

As the Australian Ambassador to China between 2007 and 2011, Dr Geoff Raby AO has maintained a passionate involvement with leading contemporary artists in China. The publication surveys the Raby Collection of 174 Chinese artworks in a variety of media.

In 2019 the Collection, which covers the period from 1974 to 2018 and is valued at more than $3 million, was donated to La Trobe University. Along with the Stewart Fraser Poster Collection, which is also housed at La Trobe, the combined collections form a major survey of Chinese culture from the 1960s to the present day.

中国当代艺术

Words for Art 艺术之言语”在研究中国当代艺术方面具有丰富的经验， 其项目包括：

“杰夫•拉比当代中国艺术收藏”，西悉尼大学，2018年

编辑：史密斯D（b.1968-）

撰稿人包括：Ellrodt N，Jose N，Macdonald J，Raby G，Valencia M

杰夫拉比博士（Geoff Raby AO）作为2007年至2011年之间的澳大利亚驻中国大使， 一直以来与中国顶级的当代艺术家保持着热情的联系。 该出版物对174幅包含各种媒介的中国艺术藏品进行了分析和论述。

在2019年，这批涵盖了1974年至2018年、总价值超过200万美元的收藏品，被捐赠给了拉筹伯大学。 这些中国当代艺术品与同样收藏在拉筹伯大学的斯图尔特•弗雷泽（Stewart Fraser）的海报藏品一起，构成了对1960年代至目前的中国文化的重要审视。

See also: Chinese Art Collections in Australia

Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) is one of the most significant Australian artists of the 20th Century. Acclaimed for his ‘Ned Kelly’ suite of paintings that depict the saga of 19th Century outlaw Ned Kelly, the series is but one part of a prolific and entirely complex career.

Since working as the inaugural archivist for Sidney Nolan’s estate, Damian Smith is internationally regarded as an expert on this most important Australian Modernist; having produced numerous exhibitions and articles on Nolan he is regularly consulted on Nolan’s career and artworks.

Words For Art is the publisher of Sidney Nolan’s 1952 ‘Drought’ series of photographs.

In 2019 Damian Smith was featured in the ABC/BBC documentary ‘Nolan’.

Other projects include:

Inaugural Archivist, Sidney Nolan Estate, Wales UK, 1994-1999

Curator, Sidney Nolan and the Photographic Eye, a component of Desert and Drought, NGV Australia, curated by Geoffrey Smith, 6 June – 17 August 2003

Curator (with Kendrah Morgan), Unmasked: Sidney Nolan and Ned Kelly 1950-1990, Heide Museum of Modern Art, 11 November 2006 – 4 March 2007

Curator, Sidney Nolan: A Magnificent Obsession, Maroondah Art Gallery, 2009

Curator, Sidney Nolan: Drought Photographs, Australian Galleries, 3 March – 27 March 2011

Curator, Sunshine and Moonlight: Sidney Nolan and John Kelly, Australian Galleries, Melbourne, 3 October - 22 October 2017

Feature article, Deutscher Hackett auction, Sidney Nolan ‘Early Morning Township’ 1955, 16 August 2023. Artwork sale price $2,700,000 (inc. BP)

‘Sidney Nolan’s Irishness’ in Fintan Cullen, Fiona Barber (eds.) Routledge Companion to Irish Art, (New York: Routledge), forthcoming

ARCHIVAL MATERIAL – STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA

Book of the Dread: Books1–3, Sidney Nolan Record ID 9939387523607636

Projected book of Sidney Nolan's poetry, unpublished, with introductory essay on Nolan's poetry by editor Damian Smith. Compiled by Sidney Nolan between 1986-1989, this was his last major project. The typescript was edited by Damian Smith between 2004 and 2017, being the centenary of Sidney Nolan's birth.

Sidney Nolan Collection Record ID: 9939386433607636

Box 1: 5 paperbacks with Nolan signatures including 2 with minor drawings. Two auction catalogues, one annotated with manuscript prices realized. One issue of Cahier d'Art, 1938.

Box 2: 21 catalogues, magazines, 2 postcards, three of which contain brief annotations by Nolan.

Sidney Nolan: Illustrations to poems by Robert Lowell Record ID 9939386223607636

Monotypes illustrating poems by Robert Lowell in the 'Imitations' series. 1965.

Sidney Nolan: The Kelly Myth Record ID 9939387893607636

Publisher's mock-up for The Kelly Myth, with one box of associated Sidney Nolan material, including Damian Smith's thesis "Sidney Nolan - The Kelly Myth", dated 2002; a list of illustrated works for The Kelly Myth; some associated correspondence relating to The Kelly Myth; photos; a video entitled "Nolan, 2018"; a cassette and CDR of Orson Welles reading Paradise Garden.

Publication details provided by Damian Smith, 2022.

Blank endpapers with "End pages designed by Sidney Nolan" pasted in.

Binding note: Black cloth boards with title in gilt, covered by dust jacket with Sidney Nolan artwork on front cover, clear plastic overlay with title information in gilt and placeholder text on front flap.

See also: Record ID 992620523607636

RARELTF copy donated by Damian Smith, 2019. Includes ephemera linking Damian with Nolan.

BSMITH copy: Bernard Smith Collection. Inscribed "Bernard Smith." Text marked pages 9-10 and annotation p.43. Slip of paper inscribed 81 found b/w image 80 and 81

See also: Record ID 995420893607636

Sidney Nolan's signed and annotated copy of Camille Pagila's Sexual Persona.

Dr Smith is an experienced arts focused not-for-profit Board member. He has served as Secretary for AICA Australia, the UNESCO sponsored International Association of Art Critics and as Vice-President of the Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV).

The International Association of Art Critics (AICA) is a NGO, founded in 1950 under the patronage of UNESCO. The objective of AICA is to support art criticism in all its forms worldwide and to keep pace with its changing disciplines. AICA’s head office, located in Paris, represents and promotes the activities of the Association’s 4,500 members, grouped into 63 different Sections, throughout the world.

As Secretary of AICA Australia Dr Smith was instrumental in establishing AICA Australia as an incorporated association.

The PGAV is the peak body for public art galleries in Victoria. As PGAV Vice President, Dr Smith played a key role in the funding and delivery of free open days across 50 public galleries throughout Victoria. The project was launched by the Honorable Mary Delahunty MLA, Minister for the Arts, Women’s Affairs and Planning.

Dr Smith is the current President of the Australian Chinese Art Research Institute and Director of the Australasian Cultural Arts Exchange.

Art projects entail considerable planning, foresight and the ability to work to a wide range of budgets. We can scale your project as a bespoke undertaking or where necessary work to a barefoot approach.

Indeed, ‘Barefoot Curating’ as outlined by Damian Smith through extensive practical application and a later doctoral dissertation completed in 2016 describes curatorial projects developed in remote, unusual and under-resourced settings, delivered to maximum impact. The dissertation emerged through working in contexts that include Cuba, Mexico, remote Central Australia and Lhasa.

CONSULTED BY HUNDREDS OF ARTS LEADERS AND CURATORS - CLICK ON THE LINK:

Barefoot Curating: Contemporary Art and the Role of the Freelance Curator

SYNOPSIS

Damian Smith’s Doctoral dissertation, Barefoot Curating: Contemporary Art and the Role of the Freelance Curator, examines the role of the freelance curator in contemporary art with initial focus on the context of Australia though ultimately further afield. In doing so the research endeavours to account for the conditions that challenge the viability of the role within an overall industry of art. The importance of this research lies in the significance of the freelance curator as one who is capable of bringing to bear new perspectives within a sector that is contained and arguably constrained within institutional structures that include funding bodies, public galleries, universities and commercial interests. The problem is significant because it highlights the degree to which new knowledge may be inhibited within a sector that claims newness and difference as a key objective while simultaneously perpetuating cultural tendencies that disavow access to or interest in broader cultural discourses, even at the expense of its own sustainability. Through considering a range of factors, including projects enacted beyond the national context the research embraces the possibilities of working in remote, unusual and under-resourced contexts with a view to developing new cultural knowledge derived from the experiences associated with these settings.

The practical application of the research can be seen in the light of emerging geo-political issues associated with such factors that include climate change, resource management and population displacement, which comes into focus through the question of what role if any might art play in changing our prospects as a species especially in the face of pressing global challenges. In answer the research articulates the concept of ‘Barefoot Curating’ being both a practical and philosophical response to developing art projects in under-resourced contexts.

The research centred on the analysis of three curated projects enacted respectively in institutional, commercial and independent contexts. A two-part methodology was applied consisting of ‘Arenas’ and ‘Critical Measures’. ‘Arenas’ frames the overlapping agendas of ‘subjectivities, ‘contexts’ and ‘economies’ as the requisite factors upon which exhibitions rely. ‘Critical Measures’ outlines the critical perspectives that were brought into play to enable and refine the curatorial work, outlined under the sub-headings of ‘makers’, ‘practice’, ‘knowledge’, ‘audience’, ‘space’ and ‘change’.

Through conducting the aforementioned research, a growing awareness of the limits impeding the viability of freelance curating in Australia led to a reappraisal of both the freelance curatorial role and more broadly the systems with which curating interacts. In responding to the problems confronting freelance curators, working with expanded cultural contexts including inter-cultural projects is suggested as a means forward, both for curating as a profession and as a means of imparting new cultural knowledge at a time of transition within the Australian art sector.

The larger implications of the research pertain initially to the viability of freelance curating within the visual arts sector in Australia, which in turn has implications for artists also and the emerging cultural landscape. Secondly, the implications of Barefoot Curating as a mode of practice become apparent when considered in light of the unprecedented human population levels globally and the challenges for cultural practitioners at a time when cultural values and actions are capable of impacting and even destabilizing the future well-being of people generally.

TEXT
For written or text-based projects Words For Art maintains a fee structure commensurate with Australian industrial standards.

$1.00 per word (up to 1,000 words). For larger projects, please contact the office.

CURATORIAL

Curatorial projects are quoted on a case by case basis, depending on the duration, location and/or complexity of the endeavour. We are happy to discuss your project in advance, including assessing and advising on funding possibilities and options.

SITE ACCESS

Your use of the websites:

http://www.wordsforart.com.au 

and

http://wordsforart.com

(hereafter referred to as the ‘Site’) is subject to the following terms and conditions. By accessing or browsing from this Site you accept these terms and conditions. 

COPYRIGHT  

Copyright for all material presented on this site is held by Damian Smith unless otherwise indicated. Text may be freely quoted for bona-fide research or educational purposes but may not be used for any commercial purposes without the express permission of the author. 

For copyright clearance requests and requests for high resolution images and text, please refer to the Contact page.

All content on this site is subject to copyright and other intellectual and cultural property rights owned by, or licensed to, Damian Smith, or other external publishers of content to the Site. 

Content on this Site may include content in the form of software, pdf documents, text, graphics, flash artwork, still images, audio and video. 

In using the Site’s content you:

may (appropriate/reproduce/use) the content only for cultural or educational purposes. If you do, you must retain copyright and other intellectual and cultural property notices from the original material;

must not use or distribute content from this Site for any public or commercial purpose; and 

must not breach copyright or any other intellectual or cultural property rights of Damian Smith or Words For Art, or its licensors, including by amending or adapting any content on this site.

Nothing you do on or in relation to this Site will transfer any copyright or other intellectual or cultural property rights to you, nor licence you to exercise any copyright, intellectual or cultural property rights, unless express permission is given by Damian Smith. 

EDITORIAL POLICY

Words For Art develops critical and curatorial texts and projects pertinent to the arena of contemporary art and culture. While we welcome applications and enquiries, our primary focus is on advancing artistic discourse and knowledge. Prior to accepting commissions, applications are assessed on a case by case basis. 

In using this Site you:

Acknowledge that Words For Art is the controlling editor of the text content on this site. Those publishing or editing text content on this site may only do so with the express permission of Words For Art. 

acknowledge that Words For Art may remove or archive content as required. 

acknowledge that Words For Art reserves the right to change procedures under this Policy at any time, at Words For Art sole discretion, with or without notice. 

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY STATEMENT

Throughout our projects, whether with art museums, commercial galleries, private clients or publishing and print entities we recognise the importance of maintaining sustainable business practices and the necessity of minimising the carbon footprint of our work. To this end Words For Art implements and endorses best practice standards established by peak bodies and environmental leaders across our partner industries. 

Art projects need not be problematic, yet in an increasingly complex world, it pays to stay informed. Not all countries share identical values or legal structures and not all nations place a value on individual expression. What may be assumed as ‘free expression’ in one place, may in other contexts be seen as sedition. Words For Art is experienced in working in challenging and complex environments. We work to manage and mitigate risks and to find ways to achieve optimum outcomes for your project.

E: info@wordsforart.com.au

Words For Art is a trademark registered business based in Melbourne, Australia

Australian Business Number: 35 531 037 181