

Doug Smithenry
Highland Park, IL
About the Artist
Smithenry explores the notion that while we engage in a search for significance online, most of us have to live with the stark fact that neither fame nor notoriety will ever find us. His work asks us to consider how our technology consumes and distracts us from our off-line pursuits that ultimately make us the "somebodies" we are.
Smithenry’s traveling exhibition, Coming Out Online, an installation of paintings that document the online testimonials of queer teens, garnered an article in the Chicago Tribune, was discussed on Chicago Public Radio’s news magazine 848 and continues to tour…
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Smithenry explores the notion that while we engage in a search for significance online, most of us have to live with the stark fact that neither fame nor notoriety will ever find us. His work asks us to consider how our technology consumes and distracts us from our off-line pursuits that ultimately make us the "somebodies" we are.
Smithenry’s traveling exhibition, Coming Out Online, an installation of paintings that document the online testimonials of queer teens, garnered an article in the Chicago Tribune, was discussed on Chicago Public Radio’s news magazine 848 and continues to tour in various academic venues. His work has been reproduced in Harper's Magazine and The Common Review. He was a featured artist during Chicago Artist’s Month in 2009 and received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant Recipient in 2005
Having grown up on a dairy farm in South-Central Illinois, Smithenry now resides in Highland Park, Illinois, with his husband and their two children.
Artist’s Work























Selected Exhibitions
- Governor's State University
Chicago, IL, 2015 - Packer Schopf Gallery
Chicago, IL, 2011 - Center on Halsted
Chicago, IL , 2009 - Viveza Gallery
Seattle, WA, 2006 - Kansas City Artist's Coalition
Kansas, MO, 2003
Press and Accolades
- Chicago Tribune
June 5, 2009 - WBEZ Chicago Public Radio
June 10, 2009 - Harper's
May 2003
Education
- Washington University in St. Louis, MFA
St. Louis, MO,1991 - University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, BFA
Champaign, IL,1989 - Pratt Institute,
Brooklyn, NY,1986