Michael E. Smith (born 1977) is a Detroit-based artist who frequently uses everyday and industrial materials that are drastically transformed to dislocate them from their recognizable function and form. In mlkw/blkvelcro (2010), for example, Smith separates two altered milk jugs by a rough swath of Velcro—one cut in half, the other filled with industrial foam degraded and turned yellow over time. These and other works not only become visually arresting objects but also suggest how natural processes can change and mutate man-made structures.

Smith’s work has been presented in a solo exhibition at the Mönchehaus Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Goslar, Germany (2011), and in numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries internationally. This is Smith’s first solo presentation in an American museum.

Michael E. Smith is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Dominic Molon, Chief Curator.