Frederick Smith
Mill Valley, CA + Taos, NM
Inner Circle Green
Acrylic on panel
32” x 32”
2022
$2000
About
Fred Smith has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of his life. He was born and raised in Kern County, CA, with a three-year stay in New Mexico as a child. Fred received a BA in Art from San Francisco State College. After graduation, he took a break to travel and study in Europe and immerse himself in the New York City art scene for a year. Then, feeling a new level of artistic maturity, he returned to complete an MFA in Painting from San Francisco State University. Fred has taught color, painting, ceramics and sculpture at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont and the DeYoung Museum Art School in San Francisco. Regardless of his teaching or other work responsibilities, Fred has always continued to prioritize his art. Twenty-five years ago, he was able to build his dream studio at his Mill Valley home. He won the James D. Phelan Award in Painting with a show at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, was awarded a Marin Arts Council grant, a Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Artist Residency in Taos, NM, and has shown widely in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Artist Statement
I identify with the modernist tradition of non-objective artists – especially constructivist, minimalist and color-field painters. Avoiding referential images, I use color, form, light and texture to create tension between the painted surface, implied spatial illusion, and the objectness of the painting. My work is also informed by my relationship with the energies animating the natural world: light, elements, minerals, organic matter and topological modeling. I seek an aesthetic harmony that transcends the conscious mind and resonates with the soul. Since living there as a child, I have felt a powerful connection to New Mexico. Over the years I have continued to visit Santa Fe and Taos regularly, maintaining relationships with artist friends. My three-month residency at the Wurlitzer Foundation deepened and expanded my connections with the greater artist community. But beyond my personal relationships, I continue to be inspired by the palettes, landscapes and energies of the varied land of New Mexico.
Art from Frederick Smith in other TAAC exhibitions