London-based painter was David Brian Smith born into a Shropshire farming family. Much of his work is informed by the experience of living on a farm, with a number of his latest paintings featuring the recurring image of a shepherd tending his flock. His paintings offer a glimpse into an alternative world, the English countryside being transformed into a trippy patchwork of candy-coloured sheep and psychedelic skies. A bowed shepherd stands rooted to the spot, a sober, immovable figure in a world of madness. Smith’s paintings can be viewed, in part, as a response to the changing world that leaves his protagonists, be they shepherds or missionaries, isolated and lost in fizzing colours, emotionally and figuratively adrift in a landscape that is both recognisable and alien.
Born 1981, Wolverhampton, England.
Lives and works in the UK
Education
Studied at Wolverhampton University and Chelsea College of Art and Design, London.
Solo exhibitions
2024 I went to Atlantis, Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2019 Imagine Peace, Baronian Xippas, Brussels, Belgium
2016 In This Together, Albert Baronian Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2015 Portrait of a farm, Carl Freedman Gallery, London, UK
2012 Goodwill and The Unknown Man, Carl Freedman Gallery, London, UK
2010 Great Expectations, Carl Freedman Gallery, London, UK
2007 I Believe in Everything, Carl Freedman Gallery, London, UK
2006 Charming Country, Wagdas Gallery, London, UK
Group exhibitions
2023 New Positions in British Painting, Telegraph Foundation, Olomouc, Czech Republic
The Secret and the Sacred, Galerie Isa, London, UK
2021 How we met, duo show with Marliz Frencken, Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2016 Painters’ Painters, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2014 Say it in words, Coleman project space, London, UK
2013 Creekside Open selected by Paul Noble and Ceri Hand
2012 London-Munich, Cul De Sac, London, UK
2011 Fruchtbaresland, Carl Freedman Gallery, London, UK
2010 Newspeak: British Art Now, Part Two, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2010 SV10: Members’ Show selected: Jennifer Higgie and Rebecca Warren, Studio Voltaire, London,UK
2008, Cory Michael Project, London, UK
Awards
2013 Prize Winner, Creekside Open selected by Ceri Hand, APT Gallery, London, UK
2005 Royal Academy Landscape Painting Award