Alexis Smith

Alexis Smith was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1949. She was born Patricia Anne Smith, but changed her name when she was seventeen. Smith received her BA from the University of California, Irvine, in 1970.

Using collage and California assemblage, Alexis Smith’s work has been critically placed alongside artists such as Wallace Berman and Edward Kienholz, as well as Ed Ruscha and Vija Celmins. Smith notes the influence of Bob Irwin and Vija Celmins at University of California, Irvine, not only as professors but also as friends and mentors. Smith was recognized in a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1991. She has also produced numerous large-scale public artworks.