Aline Smithson

ART WORK
BIOGRAPHY

JaponIsMe: Fireworks and Cherry Blossoms

Blue Koi

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

At This Temple

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

That’s An Interesting Phrase

That’s An Interesting Phrase

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

It’s Strange

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Cherry Tree

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Koi Pond

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Royal Palace

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Umbrellas

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Temple

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

White Blossoms

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

When I See a Small Boat

When I See a Small Boat

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Cloud

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

The Evening Primrose

The Evening Primrose

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

The Real Wound

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Cedar

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

It May Be a Word

It May Be a Word

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Cedar Tree

Medium: Archival pigment print, hand painted with gold
Date: 2024/2025
Size: 8x10", 12.5x15"
Edition: 15, 10

Undercover

Healthy Eaters

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Lorraine and Ron

Lorraine and Ron

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Cat is Dog

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Finn

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Colleen and Pip

Colleen and Pip

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

The Boys

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Alien Cat

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Sophie and Hans

Sophie and Hans

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Sophie Cat

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Brandy, Ed and Buster

Brandy, Ed and Buster

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

The Redhead

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Mohanned and Amanda

Mohanned and Amanda

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Drake Leaning

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Amy In Stripes

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

The Dancers

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Uniglo Girl

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

PacVal

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Red Shoes

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Alien in a Pantsuit

Alien in a Pantsuit

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

Chanel

Medium: Archival pigment print
Date: 2020
Size: 12x12"
Edition: 10 + 2 A/P

BIOGRAPHY

Aline Smithson is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, editor, and filmmaker based in
Los Angeles, California. She received a BA in Art from the University of California at
Santa Barbara and was accepted into the College of Creative Studies, influenced by
California artists such as John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha. After a career as a New
York Fashion Editor, working alongside some the greats of fashion photography,
Smithson returned to Los Angeles and her own artistic practice.
She has exhibited widely with exhibitions at institutions such as the National Portrait
Gallery in London, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Griffin Museum of
Photography, the Shanghai, Lishui, and Pingyqo Festivals in China, the Fort Collins
Museum of Contemporary Art, the Santa Barbara Art Museum, and the Haslla Art
Museum in South Korea. In addition, her work is held in major public collections and
her photographs have been featured in numerous publications including The New
York Times, The New Yorker, PDN (cover), the PDN Photo Annual, Communication
Arts Photo Annual, and Harper’s,
Smithson is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Lenscratch, a daily journal on
photography. She has been an educator at institutions around the globe since 2001.
Smithson received the Rising Star Award through the Griffin Museum of Photography
for her contributions to the photographic community and she also received the
prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award from CENTER. In 2022, the Lucie
Foundation nominated her for Photo Educator of the Year. In 2024, the Los Angeles
Center of Photography established the Aline Smithson Next Generation Award

Undercover

In the dark days of strict self-quarantining, I felt a profound loss to my photographic portrait practice, in addition, a general malaise and sense of isolation. With the mandate to wear masks, I considered not only the loss of identity with faces obscured by swaths of fabric, but the loss of connectivity with friends and family.

I reached out to friends and family and presented my idea for a new series titled Undercover. They would create their own paper bag masks and arrive at my backyard studio for a portrait session at a determined time. After donning their masks, they would step onto the backdrop and wait. I would then appear in my own mask, shout instructions which often resulted in great hilarity, shoot quickly and return to the house. And because I shoot film, I had no idea as to the results for a number of weeks.

What I wasn’t expecting was that while wearing their masks, participants lost a particular self-consciousness that comes from performing for the camera, instead feeling a levity and elevated spirit from participating in an artful and fun activity. The end result revealed new sides to people I know well and documented how art can shift moods even in the darkest of days

JaponIsMe: Fireworks and Cherry Blossoms

Unique works include hand-painted gilding, colored surrounds,
and fragments of text cut from ancient Japanese poetry books.
The work comes in two sizes: 8 x 10” and 12 x 15”
Framed with silk /linen mats and teak framing.

Japonisme: Fireworks and Cherry Blossoms continues this centuries-long artistic dialogue between East and West, past and present, printmaking and photography. Drawing inspiration from
Hiroshige’s Ukiyo-e, I use photography as a bridge—layering each image with hand-painted gilding, colored surrounds, and fragments
of text cut from ancient Japanese poetry books. Each photograph is interpreted uniquely, all are created in or inspired by Japan.
These choices are not merely decorative; they are gestures of
reverence, transformation, and connection.
As a woman working across disciplines, I’m particularly drawn
to the quiet labor of embellishment—the kind of slow, meditative
handwork often overlooked, yet filled with intention and power.
My process honors the precision of traditional woodblock printing
while asserting a contemporary, female presence.
This series is both homage and reinvention. By layering mediums,histories, and hands—my own included—I seek to create work
that feels timeless and intimate. Japonisme: Fireworks and Cherry Blossoms is not just a tribute to what came before, but an invitation to continue the conversation—through new forms, new stories,
and new ways of seeing.