Mike Smith

Boston

April 14 – May 28, 2022

Boy holding a bird's nest and biting his tank top in a park. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Fenway Park, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

42h x 35w inches (paper size)

106.68h x 88.9w cm 

Edition of 3

MS_068

Man sitting on stoop. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

South End, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24h x 20w inches (paper size)
60.96h x 50.80w cm

Edition of 5

MS_055

Man sitting on newspaper by tree with woman sleeping beside him. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Boston Gardens, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24h x 20w inches (paper size)
60.96h x 50.80w cm

Edition of 5

MS_063

1970s black and white photograph of boy on car hood with knee high socks and basketball, by Mike Smith

Mike Smith 

North End, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

20h x 24w inches (paper size)
50.80h x 60.96w cm

Edition of 5

MS_058

Man laying in park on blanket. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith 

Fenway Park, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

20h x 24w inches (paper size)
50.80h x 60.96w cm

Edition of 5

MS_053

Two women in fancy coats. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

North End, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

20h x 24w inches (paper size) 
50.80h x 60.96w cm

Edition of 5

MS_061

1970s black and white photograph of person in fur coat with hair clips, by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Arlington Street, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24 x 20 inches (paper size)

Edition of 5

MS_044

Older, well dress woman in hat, seated. Photo

Mike Smith (1951-)

North End, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24h x 20w inches
60.96h x 50.80w cm

Edition of 5

MS_060

Black and white photograph of 70's couple on a park bench, by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Boston Commons, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

35 x 42 inches (paper size)

Edition of 3

1970s black and white photograph of three teenage boys on snowy city sidewalk with movie theater marquee

Mike Smith 

Boylston Street, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24h x 20w inches (paper size)
60.96h x 50.80w cm

Edition of 5

MS_050

1970s black and white photograph of kids at an ice cream truck, by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

South End, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24 x 20 inches (paper size)

Edition of 5

MS_045

People eating ice cream next to a Para Tour van. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Boston Gardens, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24h x 20w inches (paper size)
60.96h x 50.80w cm

Edition of 5

MS_059

Couple lying on the ground in a park. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Boston Commons, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24h x 20w inches
60.96h x 50.80w cm

Edition of 5

MS_065

Couple making out. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Unknown Location, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

24h x 20w inches (paper size)
60.96h x 50.80w cm

Edition of 5

MS_062

Three kids and a dog by a water fountain in a park. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

South Boston, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

20h x 24w inches (paper size)
50.80h x 60.96w cm

Edition of 5

MS_064

1970s black and white photograph of person on park bench with back turned and feel in water, by Mike Smith

Mike Smith

Walden Pond, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

20h x 24w inches (paper size)
50.80h x 60.96w cm

Edition of 5

MS_052

Man sleeping on beach. Photograph by Mike Smith

Mike Smith 

Quincy, MA, 1977-78 (printed 2022)

Archival pigment print

20h x 24w inches (paper size)
50.80h x 60.96w cm

Edition of 5

MS_054

Press Release

Tracey Morgan Gallery is pleased to present Boston, a solo exhibition of photographs by Mike Smith. Made in the late 1970s while in his mid-twenties and studying at MassArt, Smith’s Boston street portraits have not been seen until recently as the subject of a monograph published by Stanley/Barker. These portraits are intimate and gentle, and in clear celebration of humanity, with gracious nods to August Sander and Diane Arbus. Smith embraces serendipitous and often humorous moments with a simple unifying notion: humans are endlessly complex, and endlessly fascinating.

It’s impossible not to pine for the pre-cellphone era of photography when looking at these images, for a time when strangers approaching strangers on the street was not so fraught with suspicion and paranoia; most of Smith’s subjects are aware of the camera and embrace the chance to be captured on film. Smith’s chosen tool at the time, a cumbersome 6x7 Linhof camera, influenced the final images as it necessitated a collaborative effort between photographer and subject:

“The camera I chose…was a peculiar thing; unfamiliar considering the reign of the 35mm SLR at the time. It was not difficult to hold someone's attention as the machine had a presence which I relied upon heavily. I literally disappeared behind it once it was raised to my eye. That quality, the anonymity of its maker is, to me, the lasting aspect of the work.” - Mike Smith

Mike Smith has been photographing his adopted home of East Tennessee for the last 40 years. While the early portraits included in this current exhibition feel much different on the surface from his other work, paramount to each is an underlying desire to both acknowledge and relish in the existence of other people and their myriad of nuances.

Mike Smith's work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art. In 2001 he was awarded the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and the Tennessee Governor's Distinguished Artist Award. His work is held in the collections of major museums throughout the United States  including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Smith's first monograph, You’re Not From Around Here, was released in 2004 by Johns Hopkins University Press and the Center for American Places with an essay by Robert Sobiesek, curator, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Originally from Massachusetts, Smith received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and his MFA from Yale University.