Shinique Smith, My Apples, 2007, Mixed media painting/collage on wood panel, 60" x 40" x 4" Courtesy the artist

Franklin Art Works 1021 East Franklin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA (city map) Send E-mail tel +1 612 - 872 7494 www.franklinartworks.org

In the Main Gallery

Shinique Smith: Lost & Found

June 9 - July 29, 2007

Opening Reception Saturday, June 9, from 6 to 8pm. (admission free)

Shinique Smith's paintings, sculptures and tableaux combine bundled masses of found clothing and calligraphic graffiti, resulting in works that simultaneously reference urban street culture and the long-established practice of appropriation in contemporary art.

By incorporating the signature traces of two largely invisible urban denizens - the homeless and graffiti taggers -Smith challenges traditional standards of beauty, blurs the lines between painting and sculpture, and creates her own visual lexicon.

Based in New York, Shinique Smith has been featured in exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem, PS1/MOMA, Caren Golden Fine Art and Triple Candie, and elsewhere at Gallery 400 (Chicago) and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (Colorado), among other venues. This is Smith's first exhibition in Minnesota.