Leslie Smith III : Gentle Thoughts

CHART is pleased to announce Gentle Thoughts, the second solo exhibition by Leslie Smith III. Featuring eight new large-scale works, this exhibition marks a pivotal shift in Smith’s practice, introducing new formal, material, and thematic concerns while deepening his ongoing exploration of abstraction and identity. The exhibition will remain on view through December 20, 2025.

Smith’s new mosaic-like constructions echo the contours of rocks, natural formations, and landscapes, grounding abstraction in a sense of place that feels both tangible and meditative. Each piece is built through modular “inserts” of self-contained painterly gestures embedded within larger structures. Into the shaped voids of his canvases, he integrates textiles, sewn components, and other materials that disrupt, complicate, and enrich the painted surface. The resulting works are lush, tactile, and visually complex—simultaneously evoking separation and unity.

The formal language of Gentle Thoughts is as rigorous as Smith’s methodical, labor-intensive process. All eight works revolve around a shared set of three primary shapes, generating variety through shifts in placement, orientation, and layering. The chromatic range is bold and vibrant, channeling the energy of Fauvism while extending beyond pure pigment into texture and materiality. While grounded in primary colors—yellow, blue, and red—Smith pushes past their immediacy to craft surfaces that pulse with nuance and depth. This interplay of shape, color, and material generates a wide spectrum of emotional tones across the exhibition, from saturated intensity to contemplative quiet.

At its core, Gentle Thoughts continues Smith’s exploration of societal expectations surrounding Black masculinity. While his earlier work often confronted these external pressures, this new series turns inward—toward the internalized effects of isolation and impostor phenomenon. These often-invisible psychological burdens shape lived experience and self-perception. Smith’s paintings reflect this duality: surfaces that are both guarded and seeking connection, fractured yet whole.

For Smith, these works represent not just a technical evolution, but a philosophical one. “For the first time, these paintings shift the discourse in that they challenge the environment, not the self,” he reflects. Ultimately, Gentle Thoughts offers more than material innovation; it invites viewers into a contemplative space shaped by vulnerability, complexity, and reflection. Deeply personal yet expansively resonant, the exhibition invites audiences to pause—to share in Smith’s process—and to experience abstraction as a space where identity, history, and imagination converge.