Los Angeles-based Barbara T. Smith – the barrier-smashing pioneer of body-focused performance and Conceptual art in the 60s and 70s, and whose work has continually gained prominence with each passing decade – including the 2023 career-spanning exhibitions, Barbara T. Smith: The Way To Be at the Getty Research Institute, and Proof, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles – plumbs her own psychological depths only to discover what makes her love work and life.
What historical art figure would you like to have lunch with and why? Well, I thought about that, and I think it would be Giotto. He was the first to depict the ordinary people rather than the ruling class, and his imagery was very visceral.
What did you purchase with the proceeds from your first sale? So, my first sale came at a party, this was very early on when I was still married. I was very anxious about becoming an artist, and what that would mean for my life and my future. I had made a very small 4”x8” painting that had been in a show. A woman came up to me at this party and handed me a check to purchase it. Being taken seriously, that meant a lot.
Just recently, The Celebration of The Holy Squash (1971), a major early performance was acquired by the Serralves Contemporary Art Museum in Portugal facilitated by curator Philippe Vergne.
What words or phrases do you overuse? Wow. I don’t know, it seems like I should be able to think of something. Maybe, wow!
How do you know when a work is finished? When I don’t have any interest in doing it anymore.
When and where were you happiest? While I had three little children, and we were living in Arcadia. I had a small studio in a room in my house where I was making paintings. I volunteered in the print storage area of the Pasadena Art Museum. The storage was adjacent to the offices of director Tom Levitt and curator Walter Hopps. So, I’d go there once a week to work. It was a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the art, the artists, and the curation of the exhibitions, and it was wonderful.
Barbara T. Smith Pure Food, 1973 Performance documentation, a field in Costa Mesa, CA Photo Credit: Tom Horowitz
What is your ideal escape destination? Laguna Beach, Shaws Cove, where I grew up in the summertime.
What’s the worst survival job you’ve ever had? When I was at UC Irvine to get a master’s degree. I was living and working and sleeping in a studio with a roll-up door in an industrial park with all of these other fabrication businesses, not on campus. This was where I made Field Piece (1968-72). There were all of these different roll-up door spaces that were used differently by different people. So, I used mine as a place where I lived and made art.
I needed money, so I got a job with a guy that had a place across from me. He was making small metal parts for industrial purposes. They would heat the metal and pour it into these molds; there was a centrifuge, and so it was just a funky, dirty, smelly place. Anyway, I would sweep and wipe all the surfaces clean of the detritus, and so I became a housewife again. It was right next door and I could choose my hours, but it was it was really not a great place.
Barbara T. Smith Study: Palm Trees, 1966-67 Xerox and painting on paper Photo credit: Fredrik Nilsen
What TV series from your youth best describes your approach to life? Star Trek, the original series—the exploration, looking to the future, and new technology.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Be a little thinner.
What is your most treasured memory? When my first child Ricky was being born. I was in labor pains, and they said, “If you are able to turn on your side and curl up a bit, I’ll give you a shot, and you won’t feel another pain.” So that’s what happened. And here’s this baby coming out and usually it’s the head that’s the big thing, but his shoulders were big. The doctor said, “This kid’s got the biggest shoulders I’ve ever seen.” And he did. He had big, broad shoulders, like a football player.
Barbara T. Smith Conjuring the Crone, 1983 Performance documentation, Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA Photo Credit: Unknown
What makes you smile? A question like that.
What makes you cry? Right now, I’m feeling a great deal of sadness and grief for what’s going on in Palestine and that part of the world. Oh, my God, it’s not just the war itself, but that people are suffering and starving. That makes me cry.
What is your go to drink when you toast to a sale? Champagne.
After an all-nighter, what’s your breakfast of champions? Definitely, coffee and oatmeal.
Who inspires you? People who maintain a great sense of humor in life, despite every grief and obstacle that they come across. Because life can give us some terrible things, but they keep their spirits up.
What’s your best quality? My smile, my laugh.
Barbara T. Smith Ground Zero, 1989 Performance documentation, SPARC, Venice, CA Photo credit: Unknown
What’s your biggest flaw? Oh, my God, I don’t know. You should ask somebody else, I can give you a list of names.
What’s your current state of mind? I dream.
Barbara T. Smith The Celebration of the Holy Squash, 1971 Resin cast of holy squash, offering flowers, and new flower offering Installation view of “Old Shoes: Performance Relics 1968-1975”, 2010 The Box, LA Photo Credit: Fredrik Nilsen
What do you consider your greatest achievement? Maintaining an art career.
Barbara T. Smith The Celebration of the Holy Squash (Baptism), 1971 Performance documentation, University of California, Irvine, CA Photo Credit: Unknown
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? Oh, a grasshopper! I’m just sitting here and I’m looking around me. I’m thinking about the lawn, and I haven’t seen any grasshoppers in some time but they are amazing — their color, design, sound, and ability to leap and fly.
Cover image: Xerox Coffin, Die Cut (Barbara), 1966-67, Hard-bound Xerox artist book, Photo credit: Fredrick Nilsen. All images courtesy of the artist and The Box, LA.
ArtNow wishes to thank The Dark Bob for helping coordinate and facilitate this interview.
