Ashley Seil Smith (b. 1986, Los Angeles) is a Brooklyn- and Salt Lake City–based artist whose paintings of figures and landscapes unfold in layered, intersectional complexity. After earning her MFA from the School of Visual Arts, she worked in digital and mixed media for six years before committing to painting and printmaking in water- and oil-based mediums.
Her work is shaped by her experience as an identical twin, drawing her toward common, coaxial, and convergent spaces. Borrowing from her background in anthropology and feminism, Seil Smith employs visual culture to examine the human condition—tracing how boundaries are transcended and connections formed between entities, environments, and histories.
Her practice bridges figuration and abstraction, exploring how these modes interact to generate meaning, both explicit and implied. In life as in art, she seeks a balance between structure and fluidity, premeditation and spontaneity.
PUBLICATIONS
2023 Dottir Press, “Love Without Bounds,” title illustrator
2020 Chronicle Books, “She Votes,” contributing artist
2019 Dottir Press, “IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All,” title illustrator
SELECT CLIENTS/PARTNERSHIPS
The New York Times, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Saks 5th Avenue, The Atlantic, Wired, GQ, Forbes, UK Financial Times, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, New York University, The Ohio State University, Barnard College
EXHIBITIONS
2020 Solo Exhibition, YEU&ME Curated, The Last Page, Seoul
2019 Do You Have Any Idea? YEU&ME, Kyung-in Museum of Fine Art, Seoul
2019 Member Invitational, Garner Arts Center, Garnerville, NY
2018 Member Invitational, Garner Arts Center, Garnerville, NY
2017 Versus, American Academy of Arts & Letters, Scribble Art Workshop, New York City
2016 Go Figure, American Academy of Arts & Letters, Scribble Art Workshop, New York City
2016 Member Invitational, Garner Arts Center, Garnerville, NY
2014 Thesis Show, School of Visual Arts, New York City
2013 The Book Show, School of Visual Arts, New York City
MFA Illustration as Visual Essay, School of Visual Arts, 2014
BFA Cultural Anthropology, 2009
hello@ashleyseilsmith.com