M.F.A., University of Connecticut-Storrs
B.F.A., University of Wisconsin- River Falls
Joseph Smolinski was born in St. Paul, MN, and lives and works in New Haven, CT. He received his B.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls and his M.F.A. from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. Group exhibition venues include Diverse Works, Houston, TX; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT; the McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH; the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; The Cleveland Institute of Art; and the Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT. Solo exhibition venues include Green Street Arts Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT; Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA; Seton Gallery at the University of New Haven, CT; Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT; and ArtSpace, New Haven, CT. His work has been discussed in Art in America, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and Art Papers, among other publications. In 2012, he was awarded an artist fellowship from the Connecticut Commission of the Arts and an artist resource trust grant from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
See MoreI am interested in the cycles of life and death, the interconnectivity of living things, alternative energy sources, notions of bio-tech hybrids, good and bad science fiction, human impacts on nature, cellular systems, bioluminescent sea creatures of the deep, spawning galaxies from afar, giant cell towers disguised as trees, the energy of spring, the suspended animation of winter, the plants that grow in my garden, and the intricate complexity of life. All of these influence the drawings, paintings, sculpture and digital animations I produce.
Colony Collapse, Green Street Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 2014
Night for Day , Mixed Greens, New York, NY, 2012
Invasive Horizon , Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA, 2011
Divided Terrain , Mercy Gallery, Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT, 2011
From Here On...,The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center , Montgomery College, Takoma Park, MD, 2011
Beginning Of The End , Mixed Greens, New York, NY, 2010
HereAfter: Envisioning a Landscape of Tomorrow , Seton Gallery, University of New Haven, CT, 2009
Ground Control , Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA, 2009
After The Fall , Mixed Greens, New York, NY, 2008
Transmission , Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 2006
Energy Potential , ArtSpace, New Haven, CT, 2004
Regeneration , Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT, 2002
Strange Natures, The Institute Library, New Haven, CT, 2013
Interventions, Artspace, New Haven, CT, 2012
Out of Nature, The Institute Library, New Haven, CT, 2012
House, Reinterpreted 2012, Pardee-Morris House, New Haven, CT, 2012
Trees: Selections from the West Collection, Speer Gallery, Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA, 2012
The Nature of Drawing, The Anthony Giordano Gallery, Dowling College, Oakdale, NY, 2011
1st Alumni Exhibition, Gallery 101, University of Wisconsin River Falls, River Falls, WI, 2011
War-Making: A Exhibition of This Time, A-Space Gallery, New Haven, CT, 2011
Things are Expanding, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA, 2010
Board, Beam, Breath: an investigation of trees, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, ID, 2010
Line Dancing: A Writer’s Choice of Works on Paper, A-Space @ West Cove Studios, West Haven, CT, 2010
Beastiary, Maxon Mills, Wassaic, NY, 2010
Treemendous, Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY, 2009
Dispersion, Artspace, New Haven, CT, 2009
Disjointed Terrains, NY Studio Gallery, New York, NY, 2009
Uprooted: Group Drawing Show, Ch'I Contemporary Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Current Connecticut, Paper New England, Hartford, CT, 2009
X: Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, Mixed Greens, New York, NY, 2009
Solution, Diverse Works, Houston, TX, 2009
Seduced, Guilford Art Center, Guilford, CT, 2009
Our Present Planet, The Art School at Old Church, Demarest, NJ, 2009
Full Circle: Ten Years of Radius, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, 2008
TREES: Christopher Elliot, Deborah Weiss and Joseph Smolinski, Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT, 2008
Badlands, curated by Denise Markonish, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams,
MA, 2008
Cultivate, Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA, 2008
Connecticut Contemporary, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, 2007
The Elements: AIR, The Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, 2007
Road Trip, Mixed Greens, New York, NY, 2007
Convergence: Collaborative and Individual Works By Trifocal Projects, Todd Jokl, Jessica Schwind, Joseph Smolinski, Akus Gallery, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT, 2007
Landscape vs. Netscape, Unit B (Gallery), San Antonio, TX, 2007
Modeling the Photographic, curated by Saul Ostrow, McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH, 2007
Follies: Allegorical Constructions, OHT Gallery, Boston, MA, 2007
Works on Paper, Flux Factory, Long Island City, NY, 2006
Endless Forms, Engaging Evolution, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2006
Dreaming of a More Better Future, curated by Saul Ostrow and Stuart Horodner, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2005
Shifting Affinities, Yale School of Art, Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT, 2004
Radius, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, 2004
Vistas: Interventions in a Mediated Landscape, curated by Denise Markonish, Mount Ida College, Newton, MA, 2003
Info@Blah, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, 2003
Artist’s Resource Trust Grant from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 2012
Connecticut Commission of the Arts Artist Fellowship, 2012
Mueller, Kurt, "Solution: Houston", Art Papers magazine, June 2009.
Devine, John, "Solution, Houston" Art Lies magazine, Issue # 62. 2009.
Genocchio, Benjamin, "A Show Goes Heavy on a Traditional Medium Yet Feels Fresh", The New York Times, January 2, 2009.
Hodara , Susan. "Celebrating a Decade of Nurturing Artists on the Verge", The New York Times, January 2, 2009.
Ostrow, Saul. "Joseph Smolinski, Mixed Greens". Art in America, December 2008.
Banai, Nuit. "Joseph Smolinski, "After the Fall." Time Out NY. Issue 677 September 19-25, 2008.
Markonish, Denise. Badlands: New Horizons In Landscape. Mass MoCA, June 2008.
Mitchell, John E., "The Wheels On The Tree Go Round And Round", North Adams Transcript, August 8th, 2008.
Smee, Sebastian, "Earth In The Balance", The Boston Globe, July 4th, 2008.
Bahr, Lynne, "Nature Speaks", American Artist Drawing, Fall 2008.
Genocchio, Benjamin, "A Contemporary Showcase At Wadsworth Atheneum",The New York Times, June 3rd, 2007.
Ackerman, Ruthie, "Low-Tech Art In High-Tech Era", Hartford Courant, May 22, 2006.
Ostrow, Saul, High Velocity in Slow Motion, Real Art Ways. 2006.
"Worlds of Tomorrow", The Chronicle Telegram, October 21, 2005.
Howards, Ellen, "Taking the Outside In", artsMEDIA, October, 2003.
McQuaid, Cate, "Taming Technology’s Overload with Artful Systems",The Globe Correspondent, May 2nd, 2003.
West Collection at SEI
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Yale University Art Gallery
The Charger Blog
Get to know Joe Smolinski, the University of New Haven’s chair of art and design, whose work includes projects that raise meaningful questions, explore the role of technology in our environment, and, even, generate electricity.