Résumé

E.Z.Smith was born in Fresno, California on June 10th, 1950.

PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITS

• March 1979 - One Artist - Photo-Synthesis Gallery, Fresno: "The Prints of Darkness"
• June 1980 - One Artist - Photo-Synthesis Gallery, Clovis: "E.Z.Smith, Lensman"
• August 1981 - Group show -Fresno Arts Center: "Psychic Slapstick Through The Ages"
• April 1982 - One Artist - Spectrum Gallery, Fresno. Accompanying lecture, "The Postcard as an Art Form"
• June 1982 - Group show - Tree Webb Gallery, Fresno. Palm Theme Show
• August 1983 - Two Artist Show - Spectrum Gallery, Fresno: "A Public Spectacle"
• May 1984 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno: "Five E.Z. Pieces"
• January 1985 - Two Artist Show - Spectrum Gallery, Fresno: "The Old Neon Cross"
• March 1985 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno: "More of the Same"
• March 1986 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno.
• March 1987 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno.
• October 1987 - One Artist - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno.
• March 1988 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno.
• 1988 -1989 - Mid West Invitational - University Of Wisconsin Green Bay - Touring U.S.
• April 1989 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno.
• May 1990 - Artist in residence - Fresno Art Museum: "Your Pal, E.Z.Smith"
• May 1991 - Two Artist Show - Spectrum Gallery, Fresno: " One Trick Pony"
• June 1992 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno: "Naked Fascists On The Grapevine"
• October 1993 - Two Artist Show - Spectrum Gallery, Fresno: "Nobody's Safe Now"
• October 1994 - Three Artist Show - Haggin Museum, Stockton:"Trifocal; Three Fresno Photographers"
• November 1994 - Group Show - Sandusky Cultural Center, Ohio:"Bookmakers"
• September 1995 - Two Artist Show - Spectrum Gallery, Fresno:"Two Photographers, One Model"
• December 1996 - One Artist Show - The Art Bank, Los Angeles:"E.Z.Smith @ The Art Bank"
• March 1998 - Two Artist Show - College Of The Sequoias, Visalia: "Two Guys From Fresno"
• April 2002 - Three Artist Show - Fig Tree Gallery, Fresno: "It's A Good Sign"
• November 2003 - One Artist Show - Spectrum Gallery, Fresno: "IS THAT YOUR BEST PRICE?"
• Nov. 16, 2004 - Jan. 16, 2005 - Fresno Art Museum: "IS THAT YOUR BEST PRICE? II"
• Feb. 3 - 26, 2005 - Eight Artist Show - Art Box Gallery, Fresno: "HATS HATS HATS"
• Group shows as member of Spectrum Gallery since 1981.
• Group shows as member of Fig Tree Gallery 1984-2003.

Black Eyes

• 1979 - Incurred the wrath of the Fresno Camera Club by climbing through a loophole and taking four prizes with the same picture at the Fresno District Fair photo competition, forcing them to change the entry rules of 30 years standing.
• 1983 - Incurred the wrath of the Fresno County Child protective Services, a Superior Court Judge, and received a basket of anonymous hate mail after illustrating exhibition announcements with a photograph entitled "Housebreaking Baby."

 

Feathers In My Cap

• 1987 - "Housebreaking Baby" is inducted into the permanent collection of the Fresno Art Museum.
• 1992 & 1993 - Invited to judge the Fresno District Fair photo competition.
• 1990 - Five images internationally published as postcards by Fotofolio, NY, NY.
• 1993 - Co-recipient with Mallory Moad of a grant from the Fresno Arts Council which we used to produce the "Kings & Queens Mail Art Show" at the Fresno Art Museum.
• 1998 - Invited to judge student competition at College Of The Sequoias, Visalia.

 

Modus Operandi

Humor and satire are my specialty. Photographic funny pages, sometimes using a single panel format, (such as The Far Side and Family Circus) sometimes sequential panels (such as Calvin And Hobbs and Garfield). Sometimes I'll use a droll caption, (like The Neighborhood and Edward Gorey) and sometimes I'll have the work stand mute, relying on it's own visual impact (like Henry and Picasso). Most of the time my work speaks for itself, but if it doesn't, drop me a line.

From the catalog for
Next Wave Fresno Artists To Watch In The 90's
Exhibit, Fresno Art Museum June-August. 1991

 

The wheel of E. Z. Smith's thought turns in an outrageous groove. A native of Fresno, Smith has been absorbed in photography since he first took a course ("because the class looked so easy") in McLane High School. In an insightful article by Polly Victor, she notes, "his works . . . are spoofs on death and its terrors, on the bizarre in violence and the ordinariness of the grotesque."

During Smith's exhibition and artist residency at the Fresno Art Museum in 1990, viewers were both amused and somewhat abashed with works to frustrate our "better" instincts-slightly repellent kitsch and scenes of grisly events that become preposterous tableaux-an exploding cigar takes off a man's head; Lincoln gets shot with a flag popping gun; the guillotine delivers a head into a meringue pie. As Victor notes, "Smith's work tempts us to indulge this side of ourselves, and then ridicules the urge."

E. Z. Smith reminds us that he has been basically self taught-the self has been an unusually creative, intelligent and gleefully impudent teacher! Smith has had numerous solo and group exhibits for the past twelve years at the Spectrum Gallery (which he was instrumental in founding), the Tree Webb Gallery, the Fig Tree Gallery, the Fresno Art Museum, and a multi-media piece at the Traction Gallery in Los Angeles which was reviewed in the Los Angeles Times as being "anarchically amusing!"

Bottom Line

I'm a freelance photographer who makes a living shooting pictures of paintings, pottery, and sculpture for artists who need them for portfolios, public relations, and competitions. I also teach photography part time at FCC. My own art work is a hobby that I displayed mostly in my home town, until I discovered the web.