The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and the Womxn of Color Arts Festival are proud to present "In the Interest of Action," an installation of recent artworks by Las Vegas artist Lance L. Smith. With this exhibition, Smith introduces us to a new aspect of their practice by including video and audio pieces as well as the prints and mixed media paintings and drawings for which they already are known.
Work on the drawings and prints began while Smith was a resident artist at the Arquetopia International Artist Residency in Puebla, Mexico. Undeterred when the residency was struck by the pandemic shutdown in early 2020, the artist developed their creative process into an extended meditation on diasporic systems of knowledge and their uses as modalities of liberation.
The work in "Interest of Action" is characterized by — in Smith’s words — “The pouring, throwing, and concealing of liberatory practices.” Images of motioning hands are accompanied by intimate depictions of elemental objects that suggest light, growth, and endurance. A mixed media study of the medicinal ipomoea purga vine hangs near 16 drawings of cowrie shells, important tools of currency, adornment, and reflection whose cultural significance has spread around the globe.
Musing on the importance of “the hands’ place as a tool of creation and extermination,” the artist points out that a hand “can craft one's deliverance or be complacent in developing one's destruction.”
"In the Interest of Action" is part of a new partnership between the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art and the Womxn of Color Arts Festival, a curatorial collaboration that uses exhibitions and other art events to call attention to the underrecognized work of womxn artists of color in Las Vegas and beyond. The presentation includes an essay about the artist by Francisco Jose Guevara, co-founder, co-executive director, and programs curator of the Arquetopia International Artist Residency. The exhibition runs from Nov. 9 to Feb. 19. Entry to the museum is free. Please see the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art website to read our safety guidelines and make a timed reservation before you visit.
The museum would like to thank the Arquetopia International Artist Residency, The Rogers Foundation, Desert Art Supplies, and the Las Vegas Womxn of Color Arts Festival, for making this exhibition possible. The artist would like to thank Mark N. Rauls, Robert M. Macnamara Foundation, Francisco Guevara, Nayeli Hernández, Emmanuel Ortega Rodríguez, Ryan Reid, RC Wonderly, Uri Vaknin, Chloe Bernardo, Paige Bockman, Dan Hernandez, LeiAnn Huddleston, Alisha Kerlin, Emmanuel Muñoz, and DK Sole.
Visit
Make a reservation
To make an appointment visit Eventbrite. The Barrick Museum of Art is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., by appointment. Please reserve your spot to see one of our current exhibitions. Please note that for the safety of our community, all visitors are required to wear a face-covering and maintain social distance from others.
Find us
The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is located in the heart of the UNLV campus. The museum is easily accessed from the west side of campus at the intersection of Harmon Avenue and University Center Drive. Drive east on Harmon until the road enters the campus and terminates in a parking lot. The Museum will be on your right, next to a desert landscape garden. Directions are available online.
Parking
Visitors may park in metered, staff and student spots free of charge after 7 p.m. on weekdays, 1 p.m. on Fridays, and all day Saturday. Daily, weekly, or monthly permits can be purchased from parking and transportation services. Metered parking spaces for visitors can be found in the parking lot outside the Barrick’s entrance, along East Harmon Avenue, and in the lot behind the Lied Library. Other metered green zones are available in the Cottage Grove Avenue Parking Garage and parking areas throughout campus.
