We recently had the opportunity to commission an artwork from local artist Damian Smith and were able to record some of his creative process from conception to finished piece.
For those who have always wanted to see how an art piece is created, we have documented the process for our podcast, accompanied with photographs and an interview.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
More on Damian Smith…
Often using women as the focus for his art, Damian’s style lends itself to a classic, yet contemporary style. His current works focus on juxtaposing beauty and aesthetics against symbolic elements such as skulls, horns, antlers and birds and could be considered the starting point in a conversation about our focus on the superficial versus our own mortality. In doing so, Damian’s work draws attention to philosophical discussions of morality, value and meaning.
Beauty Mortality by Damian Smith
Because of this, Damian’s work is approachable, and with a glossy-magazine familiarity to it, it makes the perfect place to begin a conversation on value and arts culture in society. This is one of the main reasons we contacted Damian to create artworks for Fringe. Although he admits to struggling to find his identity as an artist initially.
Damian’s journey as an artist has taken him from a BA in Fine Arts at QCA in 2003, where he poured his heart and soul into discovering different mediums and engaging in the greater arts industry to leaving uni with no idea of what kind of artist he wanted to be, or what he wanted to say. Even so, Damian has maintained a local focus with a steady average of one to three solo or group exhibitions each year.
WIP – Illustration by Damian Smith
And as he matures Damian’s life experience continues to inform his artworks. He says, growing up in Queensland, it wasn’t until he travelled extensively that he began to explore the concepts of morality and mortality in more depth. “My travel has certainly broadened my awareness of art and the way it integrates with society.” And he is nothing if not serious about his art career, enacting a methodical approach to finding more time to create.
In fact Damian has recently transitioned from part-time to full-time artist. An achievement he credits to the notion that artists can’t just wait to be discovered. He says, “With this in mind I have been working a plan which identifies my ideal lifestyle as an artist, and a path to get there.” He has also developed a passion for education, business and emerging artist mentoring and we will be watching how this informs the direction he takes his arts practice.
Fringe believes, as Damian does, it is important we have artists and voices like him who continues to create affordable and accessible art that will enrich the culture of our local community.
You can find Damian’s post-modern, urban, animation, pop and street art and fashion culture inspired works hanging in a gallery near you, or on these websites:
https://www.facebook.com/damiansart/
https://www.instagram.com/damiansart82
Ali.x