Roxa Smith draws on her lived experiences growing up in Venezuela and studying in the United States. After moving to New York City in the early 1990s, Smith began grounding her work in themes of quotidian domestic settings - finding inspiration in Latin American Art, Indian miniature painting, Post Impressionism and naïve art.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1962, Roxa Smith is a Brooklyn-based painter. After graduating from Bowdoin College with a BA in Art History and German in 1984, she went on to receive a Graduate Certificate in Fine Arts from University of California in 1987. After graduating, Smith participated in her first exhibition Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Curated by Teresa Bramlett, at Richmond International Airport in 1992. Other important exhibitions of her work include: Young Venezuelan Painters, Venezuelan American Cultural Association in New York, NY (1994), Latin American Magic Realism at Roger Smith Gallery in New York, NY (1994), Personal Perspectives at Visage Gallery of Contemporary Art in Panama City, Panama (1994), In Celebration of Venezuelan Independence at the Venezuelan Consulate in New York, NY (1996), 62nd Annual National Exhibition at Cooperstown Artist Association (1997), A.I.R. Gallery in New York, NY (2002), Washington Square East Galleries, NYU Galleries in New York, NY (2004), National Museum of Catholic Art and History in The Black Madonna Exhibition in New York, NY (2007), Gormley Gallery at College of Notre Dame of Maryland (2009), 121st National Association for Women Artists Annual Exhibition at the National Arts Club in New York, NY (2010), Governor's Island Fair on Governor's Island in New York, NY (2011), New Paintings, Conde Nast Building Lobby in New York (2013), and Borderless: In Residence, NYFA Gallery in Brooklyn (2016). Smith has received a range of awards, residencies and fellowships. She has been the recipient of the Latin American Artist Award, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 1993. In 2013, she was awarded the prestigious New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)-Basil Alkazi Fellowship at the Sheldon Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 2017, Roxa was a finalist for a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Arts and Design commission (Brooklyn, New York). Walter J. and Anna H. Buchanan Trust Memorial Prize at The 86th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Cooperstown Arts Association in 2021, and Best in Show, Color Competition at Artist Space Gallery in 2024.
Roxa Smith's painting is deeply influenced by her surroundings. While studying in California she was an active participant in a group of 'plein-air' painters, cementing her love of painting - especially landscape painting. However, upon moving to New York CIty in the 1990s she no longer had easy access to inspiring landscapes leaving her to turn her focus inward. Smith began finding inspiration painting people's interiors, especially those full of life and color allowing her to continue interpreting everyday contemporary life in her signature style.