SFMOMA has opened O. Smith: Artivist, a solo exhibition of drawings by Orlando Smith, an artist who is currently incarcerated at San Quentin. The show went on view July 25, 2026 and runs through June 20, 2027 on Floor 2, and entry is included with general admission, according to the museum’s exhibition page. SFist reported that Smith is the first actively incarcerated artist to be given a solo show at the museum.
Smith calls himself an « artivist, » both artist and activist. SFMOMA says he began drawing more than forty years ago, initially inspired by Marvel Comics, and has since created 783 original characters and nearly seventy graphic novels under his own imprint, Skullthuggery Comics. After the COVID-19 pandemic reached the prison, he turned that comics practice toward illustrated journalism, in his words, « to reveal the truth from inside the prison itself. »
The drawings on view carry titles that state their subject plainly: Aging Is A Fact! (2025), Rehabilitation Over Punishment? (2025) and Re-Traumatized (2022). All three entered SFMOMA’s collection through Ruth Nash Fund purchases. Now in his late fifties, Smith works on the position of San Quentin’s aging long-term population, whose chances of release the museum describes as bleak despite a near-zero recidivism rate.
The museum credits Empowerment Avenue, a group that connects incarcerated writers and artists with publishers and galleries, along with the William James Association, for making the exhibition possible.
What this means if you’re visiting
This is a ticketed-floor show, so it sits behind the general admission line rather than in the free ground-floor gallery. That matters if you are planning a cheap museum day: SFMOMA’s other big August item, Jacob Hashimoto: Giant Arc, opens August 22 in the Roberts Family Gallery on Floor 1 and needs no ticket at all. One trip can cover both, but only the Hashimoto is free.
An eleven-month run also means there is no rush. The show is on view through late June 2027, which puts it in reach of almost any San Francisco trip over the next year, including the discounted and free days listed in our guide to free museum days in San Francisco.
Details
What: O. Smith: Artivist, Floor 2, SFMOMA When: July 25, 2026 through June 20, 2027
Where: 151 Third Street, SoMa Hours: Monday and Tuesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Wednesday, Thursday noon to 8 p.m., Friday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: Included with general admission Getting there: Montgomery Street station (BART and Muni Metro) is about a two-block walk up Third Street to Market; the 14 Mission runs one block over on Mission Street.
Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
