Dave Smith

DAVE SMITH was born in England in 1944, studying at Derby College of Art and
Hornsey College of Art. Following several years of teaching in art schools, he left England in 1973 for a teaching position in the Bahamas, where he would begin a prolific period of painting with neo-pop
and photo-realist overtones, which he showed in a series of 8 solo shows and numerous group shows in Nassau and Miami, FL. He remained in the Bahamas for 17 years and was one of 11 principal artists featured in Artists of the Bahamas, a 2008 documentary feature film, exploring the lives and work of key artists who contributed to the initial art movement in the Bahamas.

He left the Bahamas in 1990 and moved to Los Angeles, supporting himself initially by painting billboards and subsequently working in TV and motion picture studios as a union scenic artist.

Although much of his current work comments on contemporary American society, his sensibilities remain shaped by the formative years spent in the Bahamas which continue to inform his work.

In recent years he has shown in Austria, the Bahamas, Germany, Puerto Rico, U.K and the U.S, with his last solo show being at the Trophy Room Gallery, Los Angeles in 2024.