Clay Smith
Clay is a Brisbane based contemporary artist influenced by pop art, poster art, manga, storybook illustration, stencil street and abstraction in his paintings and felt sculpture installations. With a vivid use of colour Clay has never conformed to a singular method of operation as an artist. There are many concepts explored within the framework of each series he paints. These vary from the divisiveness of humanity that gives rise to the slaying of ideology as in the cult graphic novel “Jargon Slayer”. The satirical war propaganda subversion of the Warmongering Bunnies in the face of a tide of global military partnerships is explored in one series. Clay also employs the aesthetic elements in many traditional cultures that unify and affect us in “Cultural Tempest”.
Clay was raised by two artists as parents, whose art lineage goes back at least four generations in Melbourne. His great-grandfather Billy Churches was a stagecoach painter and billboard designer. His grandmother Melba Mansfield was a nationally touring acrobatic dancer in the 1920′s vaudeville circuit. His father Doug Smith is a retired music teacher and was a professional Jazz Musician on the Melbourne music scene from the 1950′s through till the end of the 1980′s. His mother is Melbourne artist Elizabeth Mansfield, ex-president of the Malvern Artists Society in Melbourne.
Osaka to Amsterdam, 270x180cm