Jakobus Smit

Organic Colour Field – Exploring the tension between control and chance through layered colour fields, organic shapes disrupted by mark making. Restrained colour palette builds depth and atmosphere, while the physical surface texture records the gestural process. Intention to create therapeutic artworks that disrupts the mind, induce a temporary visual trance state.

The day Jakobus Smit visited Gregoire Boonzaier in his studio at Onrus, he knew he wanted to be a fine arts painter. Growing up in South Africa, Smit spent countless hours marveling at the paintings in his grandparents' home—avid collectors whose walls featured works by Oerder, Laubser, Pierneef, Stern, and Boonzaier himself. Though his father strongly encouraged a more practical path, Smit studied Design and Visual Communication and has worked in the design industry producing advertising artwork for 30 years.
Throughout this time, fine arts practice has remained central to his life. Working primarily in oil on canvas and mixed-medium printmaking, Smit explores the relationships between mark making, composition, and color.

2022 – Animation, Griffith College, IE
2015 – Drawing, The Model, IE
2010 – Print making, LCC, UK
2005 – Oil painting, Morley College, UK
1995/1996 – Design & Visual Communication, CT, SA
1993/1994 – Graphic Art, CT, SA

2026
Edna O'Brien Gallery Scarriff, County Clare, Ireland

2025
Solo exhibition, Kilkee, Ireland

2024
Solo exhibition, Ennis, Ireland

2019–2020
Solo exhibition, Sligo, Ireland

2018
Group exhibition, Solas, Ireland

2016
Group exhibition, Leitrim, Ireland

2015
Group exhibition, Sligo, Ireland

2013
Group exhibition, LCC Gallery, UK

2012
Group exhibition, The Print Club Gallery, London, UK

2012
Group exhibition, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, NY

2011
Solo exhibition, Cargo Gallery, London, UK

2010
Group exhibition, Morley College Gallery, London, UK

2009
Group exhibition, The Tibetan Center, San Francisco, USA

2008
Group exhibition, Cargo Gallery, London, UK

2004
Group exhibition, The Print Club Gallery, London, UK

2000
Group exhibition, Cargo Gallery, UK

1998
Group exhibition, Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, Cape Town, SA