Lucien Smith, the New York-based artist who became a prominent figure in the city’s downtown art scene, has died. He was 37.

Details on Smith’s death and his childhood upbringing

Smith’s longtime friend and gallerist, Bill Powers, confirmed his death and told ARTnews, “Lucien lives in a wordless place inside us now.” No cause of death has been released, according to New York Magazine’s Grub Street.

Smith grew up in Southern California as the son of a Filipino mother and Black father. He moved around a lot because of his parents’ circumstances, and said those experiences shaped how he viewed his identity.

“I’ve had to move to so many different schools because of my parents’ situation that I was thrown into so many different identities,” Smith told Office Magazine. “Going from public school to private school, playing sports, and being more art-oriented. I’ve always been a chameleon.”

How Smith’s sought-after artwork made him a rising star

While studying at Cooper Union, Smith began attracting attention from the art world. In 2011, collector Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn purchased one of his paintings from his senior thesis show.

“I didn’t really come from money,” Smith told The New York Times several years later, per Grub Street. “So I wanted my thesis show to grab as much attention as possible. Jeanne, she bought one of the first paintings I showed.”

Smith’s career quickly took off through his “Rain Paintings,” abstract works created by spraying paint onto canvases with a fire extinguisher.

As his profile grew, Smith became critical of the expectations surrounding his early success. In 2014, he moved to Montauk and distanced himself from the New York art scene.

“I was subscribing to this idea of what a New York City artist was that was really pretentious and unhealthy,” Smith told Ssense. “I’m not interested in being a New York art star.”

In 2015, Smith launched Serving the People, a multidisciplinary platform focused on emerging talent in art, music and film.

“Our goal is to provide an alternative platform for creative inquiry and experimentation,” he said. “We want to help bring awareness to the unrefined, uncommercial, and create a market for it as well.”

In 2025, he opened FOOD, inspired by the original Soho restaurant founded by artists Gordon Matta-Clark and Carol Goodden in 1971, according to Page Six.

Smith on his planned comeback: ‘I think it is time to return to the process I was given.’

Before his death, Smith was preparing for a comeback, returning to the earlier works that made him a star. In late August, he created four new Rain Paintings in Montauk for “Delay of Game,” an exhibition scheduled to open at Tripoli Gallery on Sept. 12, per Page Six and Grub Street.

“Life has taken me full circle,” Smith told Artnet. “I think it is time to return to the process I was given.”

He also told Grub Street, “I’m doing something. Staging a comeback. Art world is zzzzz. I think it’s time to make a move.”

“When people remember contemporary art from the early teens of this century, it will be impossible not to include the work of Lucien Smith in that conversation,” Powers told Page Six. “I’ll think of him whenever it rains, and sunny days, too.”

Tripoli Gallery owner Tripoli Patterson said she plans to honor Smith’s final artistic vision.

“He is a bright star who will continue shining in his new form and through all the artworks he shared with us,” Patterson told the outlet. “As we mourn his way too early departure, I find the strength to remain steadfast with the responsibility he entrusted me with.”

The exhibition has been delayed while the gallery works with Smith’s family to determine a new date.