Master stroke

‘I wanted to focus on line and gesture,’ says Shinique Smith of her display for the UBS Lounge at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, which includes new paintings, a site-specific installation, and totemic sculptures incorporating hand-bound recycled textiles. ‘When I go to make a painting, there is an immediate, intuitive gesture that comes through my brush,’ explains the artist, who counts Japanese calligraphy and graffiti among her influences. ‘Sometimes it begins with writing and one big, sweeping movement – you have to be confident and make your mark.’ Fittingly, the presentation in the UBS Lounge featured works on paper by other artists from the UBS Art Collection including Cecily Brown, Cy Twombly, Julie Mehretu and Helen Frankethaler – selected personally by Smith to accompany her own drawings and extend the theme of line and gesture. From 27 January, 2020, ‘Indelible Marks’ will be on view at the UBS Art Gallery in New York – a recently opened public gallery situated in UBS’s headquarters at 1285 Avenue of the Americas.