Ian Kingsford-Smith - painter and printmaker.

Ian Kingsford-Smith is a working artist in Sydney, Australia. He has studied painting with a number of leading New Zealand painters including Colin McCahon, Michael Smither and Toss Woollaston. 

Ian has exhibited solo in Sydney and Melbourne, 2014 (Pilgrimage: mortal life viewed as a journey) 2013 (Dreams in Captivity), 2012 (Australian Stories), 2011 (Dingoes), 2010 (Trees on Paper), and other group exhibitions, in painting and printmaking. 

Previously he has had solo and group exhibitions in Auckland, Dunedin and Palmerston North, New Zealand. His work is represented in private and corporate collections in Sweden, France, Germany, Wales, England, New Zealand and Australia.

His other careers have included being a Playschool presenter, professional theatre designer, television producer/director, interactive television consultant and musician.

Additional 2014 Exhibitions

Group exhibition at Fawn Gallery, Melbourne in October, Inkmasters Print Biennial in Cairns and solo at Gaffa Sydney, Australia in February. 

Mappa Vitae (Life Maps) Sheffer Gallery, Darlington, Sydney, July 2015

Mappa Vitae (Life Maps) - painted sculpture solo exhibition at Sheffer Gallery, 38 Lander Street, Darlington, Sydney. Runs from Wednesday 8th to Saturday 11th July 2015. 

Pilgrimage Prints, Studio One, Auckland, New Zealand. Oct 2015

Exhibition of 15 intaglio etchings. Opens 21st October and runs to 13th November 2015.
'Our lives are punctuated by events that take on symbolic significance. The role of these types of events within the narration of our lives is a central theme of the exhibition'. 

'Art Is Now', Galleria360, Florence, Italy, May 2016

'Art Is Now' is a special group exhibition that compares different cultures and artistic styles of the world through the careful selection of talented international artists. Art Is Now runs from Thursday 28th April to Monday 23rd May 2016.

'Lineage' m2 Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney, September 2016

We live in a culture where the perpetuation of family ancestral lineage and the family as a social institution are central. By making babies, we continue life's pageant. In children, we cheat death. Yet something seems fundamentally very wrong, or incomplete, with this idea as humans. But to find meaning only in child production seems an affront to human dignity and potential, individual differences, and personal choice. Questions posed by this exhibition are: Are we aspiring for life after death or immortality through the perpetuation of the lineage? Are we procreating so that we can live out our unlived lives through our children under the guise of giving children a better life? Does making babies provide the answer to life after death?

Lausanne Art Fair, Lausanne, Switzerland. May 2017

Summer Art, Galleria 360, Florence, Italy. July 2017

Donostiartean Art Fair, San Sebastian, Spain, July 2017

Afterlife, ARO Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney. September 2017

Mulhouse Art Fair, France, November 2017

LuxExpo Art Fair, Luxembourg City. November 2017

Galerie Etienne de Causans, Paris. December 2017

Solo exhibition, Spazio Tadini Museum, Milan, June 2018

Solo exhibitiion titled 'Narrative Fragments of Life'. The 'Linage' 2016 artworks, sitting amn and three babies, were accepted into their permanent collection at the conclusion of the four week exhibition.   

Inkmasters Biennale, Cairns, Australia August 2018

An aquatint etching was accepted into the biennale as a finalist.

Votives, Aro Gallery, Sydney, September 2018

'Votives' was a solo exhibition that included 48 painted artworks and 13 wood engravings. 

Solo exhibition, Auckland, New Zealand, November 2018

This solo exhibitin was titled 'Scenes from daily life' and exhibited at Stdio One gallery on Ponsonby Road, Auckland New Zealand. The exhibition showed a series on aquatint etchings. 

Mulhouse Art Fair, France, November 2018

Artworks were shown at the Mulhouse Art Fair,Mulhouse, France.

Coningsby Gallery, London, England, December 2018

Artworks were part of a group exhibition of International Printmakers. Four aquatint etchings were exhibited.

Paris Contemporary Art Fair, Paris Expo, France, April 2019

Artefacts/Unburied treasure, ARO Gallery, Sydney, Australia

October 2019 solo exhibition. In this exhibition Kingsford-Smith has referenced practices within ancient Egyptian and Roman culture that were used to combat feeling of existential anguish and doubt. The texts inscribed on the wood blocks reference ancient Egyptian letters to the dead, while the coloured imagery on their verso drew inspiration from ancient Roman frescos that depicted mythical scenes. In keeping with his larger body of work, Kingsford-Smith looks for connections between the psychological impulses underpinning ancient practices and our own within the contemporary world. 
A series of thirteen wood engravings is also included in this exhibition. The imagery within them extends the themes present within the painted blocks. The relationship between the living and the dead and the diverse dimensions of human experience are depicted.

Kingsford-Smith sees himself as a visual storyteller. “In my art practice,” he says, “history, personal history, memory, family records, ambitions, fantasy, dreams, mythology and spirituality” all combine to create enigmatic narratives. They are detailed but do not tell one explicit story, rather they tap into the viewer’s imagination and evoke a multitude of possible storylines. Each of Kingsford-Smith’s images evokes a larger story and meaning through his ability to play subtly with colour, line and scale. Ian is a fulltime artist working in Sydney. He has studied painting with a number of leading New Zealand painters including Colin McCahon, Michael Smither and Toss Woollaston.
Ian has had solo exhibitions at Spazio Tadini Museum, Milan, Italy, Narrative Fragments of Life 2018 with the Lineage (2017) artworks being accepted into their permanent collection, ARO Gallery, Sydney, Votives 2018, ARO Gallery, Sydney, Afterlife 2017,  M2 Gallery, Sydney, 2016 Lineage, Sheffer Gallery, Sydney, 2015 Mappa Vitae, GAFFA, Sydney, 2014 Pilgrimage, Global Gallery, 2013 Dreams in Captivity, 2012 Australian Stories, 2011 Dingoes, 2010 Trees on Paper and group exhibitions in painting and printmaking in Florence Italy, New York USA, Melbourne, Cairns and Auckland NZ, and as a finalist in the Australian Contemporary Art Award 2016. His work is represented in private and corporate collections in South Korea, Italy, USA, Sweden, France, Germany, Wales, England, New Zealand and Australia.

Warringah Printmakers, Sydney, Australia, November 2019

Exhibition of framed wood engravings.