Release possible for incarcerated artist with Richmond Art Center piece and SFMOMA exhibit
on October 29, 2026
More than 300 people filled an exhibition room at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for the opening of Orlando “O.” Smith’s first solo exhibition. Tucked into a corner of the second floor of the museum, it expands into three rooms, with open entry on either side, letting patrons choose which order they interpret Smith’s story. Family, friends and others walked among 28 of his works. The artist was the only one missing.
Smith’s first solo show opened in July, while he participated via video call from the concrete walls of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
“I felt like a ghost. I wasn’t there, I wasn’t tangible,” Smith said. “I’m just a spectator, moving around the crowd and meeting all these people at my own show.”
The Richmond Art Center currently has one of Smith’s pieces on display and for sale as part of its anniversary fundraiser.
Smith, 59, is serving eight life sentences under California’s Three Strikes Law for eight counts of armed robbery. He calls himself an “artivist,” a mix between an artist and activist, and says art is what has helped him since his sentencing. On Friday, he’s scheduled for a hearing in Los Angeles County that could end with his release after 30 years in prison.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has referred Smith’s case to the court for resentencing based on his exceptional conduct, said Marwa Rifahie, one of the attorneys representing him. After hearing arguments on Smith’s resentencing, a judge can either resentence him that day or make a ruling in writing at a later date.
For Smith’s resentencing to be denied, Rifahie said, the prosecutor would have to prove Smith’s armed robbery convictions qualify as super-strikes, severe felonies such as rape, murder and other violent assaults. The district attorney’s communication team did not respond to a call or email for comment.
Smith has penned more than 70 comic books and 800 characters during his time at San Quentin, and has consistently donated his artwork to Bay Area art museums and exhibits.
“When COVID-19 came around is when I really found my passion. It was a driving force when I pivoted from comics and really went into human rights art instead,” Smith said.
Smith’s comics characters are realistic, with overexaggerated facial expressions enlivened through colored pencils. The characters’ interactions on the page immediately draws the audience in, whether it be watching two characters yell at each other behind bars, or the Grim Reaper taking up more than half of the page as he comments on the passage of time.
Nancy Lim, an associate curator of painting and sculpture at SFMOMA and the primary curator for Smith’s exhibit, discovered Smith’s artwork in Bay Area art installations. She views it as “righteous, loud and productive.”
She originally found Smith’s work in the Studio One Art Center in Oakland, the Berkeley Art Center and the Richmond Art Center. Smith donated “Cognizance” to the Richmond Art Center’s Ninety@Ninety fundraiser, which runs through Nov. 19 and features 50 works by 50 local artists. The piece, which is Smith’s second for the center, is priced at $400.
‘“Cognizance’ is a splash page piece that I did two to three years ago,” Smith said. “It’s about my criminal background and what transpired in my head.”
Smith says deep reflection, both in his artwork and alone in his cell reading, has been central to his rehabilitation.
“If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room. I want to be around people that I can learn from and grow with, which was a major change in my thought process,” Smith said.
Lim reposed the show for the first time in early 2023, making the curation of Smith’s exhibit a three-year process. Lim visited Smith in prison more than five times to discuss the layout of the installation and which pieces to include.
At first, the exhibit was just going to include Smith’s “Gruelling Report” series and his “O. Smith Perspective series,” which each comment on prison conditions, power dynamics and aging in prison.
“I talked to Nancy and asked her to add in my protest posters. I wanted to show a wider range of my art, from more of a narrative perspective,” Smith said. “But other than that, I trusted Nancy with what to do because she’s the expert. She knew what pieces would draw people in.”
Smith has made more than 60 protest posters; a series that includes more than 60 characters per poster, each holding up their own protest sign with their own political messaging. His “Protest Poster #58” (2025) conveys that community is the theme of his protest posters. It shows characters blending into one another as everyone holds a poster: from comic character Lisa Simpson’s “Climate Action NOW,” to Speedy Gonzalez being chased by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while holding an “Immigrants Make America Great!” poster, and ordinary people wearing shirts that read “Free O. Smith.” Smith’s ability to hide well-known characters among people and protestors make his posters feel like a political “Where’s Waldo.”
“His protest posters are such powerful pieces of work,” Lin said. “Orlando also places himself in every protest poster, so if you look hard enough, you can find him.”
Two large protest posters take up a wall in the exhibition that faces a walkway, naturally catching the attention of those walking by. People do a double take at the posters, then decide to walk in.
Over and over, people exclaimed, ‘Wow!” then stopped to read his narrative art or take pictures of favorite pieces.
“I’m super drawn to his form and his splash paintings. It’s crazy how he can fit so much into each panel without it bleeding into another,” said Angela Ramirez, a student at San Francisco State University at the exhibition. “He’s a very strong artist.”
Smith said he works on four or five projects at a time and donates about four pieces a year “just to pay it forward.”
De’jon Joy, who helped curate the exhibit, noticed people engaging with Smith’s work for long periods of time, often sitting on the benches to read his foreword in the opening piece, “Aging is a Fact!”
“You really don’t see that often,” Joy said. “I think it’s a testament to who he is as an artist.”
Smith got to showcase his talent on Oct. 22-23 at the third annual San Quentin Film Festival, where he was featured in “Artist in San Quentin,” a short documentary by Ryan Pagan, an incarcerated filmmaker.
Smith described the weekend as a whirlwind, meeting people who recognized him from his artwork, industry professionals like director Ryan Coogler and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“Some people come up to me and say they know me, and sometimes they’ll go grab other people they know to meet me,” Smith said. “I don’t know what to say when that happens. It’s surreal because we’re all wearing blue,” he added, referring to prison garb.
If Smith is re-sentenced, he could be released as soon as a week after his hearing. If the motion is denied, he would still be eligible for parole in December. He said he’s growing more positive after feeling apprehensive about his chances.
“Once I’m out there,” he said, “I got things to do.”
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