ABOUT

Graham Smith has produced work continuously over six decades since his early formal training in painting and drawing during the 1950s and 60s. After studying painting at Wellington Polytechnic College, New Zealand (1957–1961), Graham attended Kunstschule Destrad, Linz, Austria (1961–1963). Returning to New Zealand in 1964, he taught drawing, painting and design at Wellington Polytechnic until moving to Sydney in 1977.

 

During the late 1970s and 80s Graham taught drawing at the University of Technology while continuing to paint and exhibit in commercial galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. During this time Graham’s work was purchased by the Australian Art Bank, a series of prints was commissioned by Westpac Banking Corporation, and many works were sold to private collectors in Australia and overseas. In the mid to late 1980s Graham established and ran a successful fashion design and manufacturing business, retailing clothing in Australia and New Zealand. He returned to painting full-time in the 1990s and also began working with clay, making sculptural ceramic objects.

 

Graham has lived in the Mudgee region for over 30 years. He taught private painting and drawing classes in Mudgee for over 10 years and now paints and works with clay in his Mudgee and Ilford studios.

 

His paintings and drawings cover a broad range of themes that often refer to landscapes, places or people – the orange dust storm that cloaked the Mudgee region in 2009, bushfires, night skies, Yvonne’s flower garden, the sandstone landscape of The Drip near Mudgee, lush Hawaiian vegetation, conversations and close friends – but he leans towards abstraction to reveal the absolute essence of things.