| Mark T. Smith | |
| Birth Date: | 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Wilmington, Delaware |
| Alma Mater: | Pratt Institute |
| Occupation: | Painter |
| Years Active: | 1990–present |
Mark T. Smith (born 1968)[1] is an American painter.
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, where he attended Archmere Academy,[2] Smith moved to New York City in 1986 to study at the Pratt Institute. After graduating from Pratt, he made New York City his home until June 2004, when he relocated to Miami. Fourteen years later, he moved to Oahu, Hawaii, for a year, and he eventually settled in Seattle in 2018,[3] where he became a vice president of Coding Dojo, a training company.[4]
In 1990, Smith received his first commission from the Walt Disney Company,[5] for a "Happy Birthday Walt Disney World" poster. Throughout his 20s, Smith made his living in New York City as an iconoclastic artist. He continued to receive corporate commissions. These included the 1996 national Absolut Vodka campaign entitled "Absolut Smith". In 2003 he made three paintings for Taco Bell, Drive Thru Man, Mothman, and Empty, which were reproduced on stretched canvas to decorate the chain's restaurants; several copies have since been stolen, some offered for sale online after being taken during renovations.[6] In 2002, he hand-painted a pair of PT Cruisers. One was auctioned for the charity Operation Smile after a promotional tour from New York City to Key West,[7] [8] and the other, which was exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival, is in the Walter P. Chrysler Museum’s permanent collection in Michigan.
On a commission from the United States Olympic Committee, he created a dragon painting for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing that was displayed in the Olympic village.[7] [9]
In 2009, Smith was chosen as the first artist to "Paint on Pink", painting on pink material recycled from the Pink Project, the art installation that launched Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation New Orleans, to help New Orleans residents recover after Hurricane Katrina. Sale of his artwork contributed to the project.[10]
Smith's art has been widely exhibited, in both solo and group exhibitions[7] [8] [11] and is in the collections of celebrities including Jay Leno, Neil Diamond, and Elton John.[12]
Smith's style has been compared to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Willem de Kooning.[6] He has said that he seeks to combine classic skills of drawing and painting with a modern sensibility influenced by graffiti art, hip-hop, and advertising in order to meaningfully integrate visual art into public life. He described the Taco Bell paintings as a homage to Maxfield Parrish.[6]