Lucien Smith's last chapter begins where his career took off. This August, the artist spent time on an abandoned baseball field in Montauk, New York, making what would become his final body of work. A month after finishing it, Smith died at the age of 37.
That work is now on view at Tripoli Gallery in Wainscott, New York, in an exhibition titled Delay of Game. Originally scheduled for September, the show was rescheduled following his death. It runs until November 23 and centers on four large-scale Rain Paintings, all made as part of a live performance.
The series is the one that first pushed Smith into the spotlight. Made by spraying canvases with paint-filled fire extinguishers, the Rain Paintings became his breakout, and he later added the roles of Serving the People founder and FOOD revivalist. Smith saw this final presentation as a return to the early-career practice that made his name.
The title comes from the language of baseball. When rain halts play, the grounds crew rolls a tarp across the field to protect it. In Smith's hands, the tarp does the opposite job: it catches the paint.
Each canvas gets its own wall in the gallery. Fields of green and pink speckles give the paintings an effervescent, meditative quality that reflects the introspection and acceptance Smith felt while making them. "A process like this is a gift," he said.
With Delay of Game, the work that launched his name becomes the work that closes his story, and the circle is complete.