Gab Smab

SMAB (b. 1977, Flers, France) is a painter based in Los Angeles. The work grew out of late-1990s Paris graffiti and became a professional practice in Beijing in 2007 — first surreal acrylics and stylized portraits, then heavily textured abstraction shown in the 798 Art District and, in summer 2010, at Sunshine International Art Museum, Songzhuang.After a move to Los Angeles in 2016, a small black torii gate became the anchor of the 2018–2024 Torii series: a quiet threshold set against turbulent grounds. In 2026 the gate returned as Revival Torii (Lucky 11) — eleven 24 × 36 in acrylics painted between eclipses — alongside Flashback (a return to the Beijing abstract language), Breakout heads, and The Pill Is Too Big to Swallow. Recurring motifs: the small gate that holds its place inside chaos; the closed-eye face of inward attention; intensity that does not fully resolve. Acrylic on canvas, usually 24 × 36 in.

Université Paris X Nanterre — social psychology (licence)

Sunshine International Art Museum, Songzhuang, 2010

798 Art District, Beijing, 2009

Beijing -the place - 2009