Lucien Smith, influential New York artist, dies at 37

Lucien Smith, the contemporary artist whose signature "Rain Paintings" made him a prominent figure in New York's early-2010s art scene, has died. He was 37.

Smith died Sept. 7 and the news was confirmed to ARTnews by his longtime friend and gallerist Bill Powers. A cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.

Born in Los Angeles in 1989 and raised in New York, Smith earned his bachelor's degree from Cooper Union in 2011. His thesis exhibition, "Imagined Nostalgia," caught the attention of art dealer Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, who subsequently began showing his work at the New York City art gallery, Salon 94.

Smith soon became best known for his "Rain Paintings," a collection of abstract works created by spraying paint from a fire extinguisher onto unprimed canvases. The unconventional technique helped turn the recent art school graduate into one of the most closely watched young painters in New York.

Demand for Smith's work quickly surged. In 2013, a painting that had originally sold for $10,000 at his thesis exhibition sold for $389,000 at a Phillips auction. He was 24 at the time. His work generated more than $4 million at auction in 2014, according to the Artnet Price Database.

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/