Sally Smart is one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists. She is known for creating large-scale collages from painted felt and other materials applied directly to the wall. Her assemblages, composed of silhouettes of figures, objects, and architectural structures, are narrative and sometimes surreal, layered with philosophical references to identity, feminism, psychology, literature, and Australian culture.

The Exquisite Pirate (2004-2006) was recently shown in Surface Charge, an exhibition curated by Sabine Russ and Gregory Volk, at Anderson Gallery of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.

Shown in the second gallery will be another group of Smart’s recent works, the Painting in the Dark series. These too, explore the physical layering of Smart’s collage process, and recurrent use of silhouette forms.

Smart lives in Melbourne, Australia. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University with an MFA. Smart has exhibited widely in Australia and the Jogja Biennale, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2005); Architypes Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (International tour Sydney, Tokyo, 2004-2005) Femmage, Galeria Baro Senna, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2001); Family Tree House Project Space, Arco, Madrid Spain (2000) Re-emplace, Earl Lu Gallery, Singapore (1999) Femmage Shadows and Symptoms, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (1999); Unhomely, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyongju and Seoul, Korea (1998)