Artist Statement

Bec’s formal design background shapes her visual output, as well as the particular line of enquiry she follows in order to translate her work. An interest in the ‘dynamics between things’: what people say and do, time, cause and effect, duality. Her fascination with people and how they interact with their surroundings is what drives both her art and her career. Through her work as an Experience Designer (UX Designer) she investigates and documents other people’s thoughts, emotions and circumstances so that their needs are translated into an intuitive digital experience. Her art follows the same pattern and her paintings are realisations of actual, and idealised situations. But whether an exchange, an emotion, or an environment, her paintings expose a particular moment in time for how she experienced it.

Biography

At secondary school and university I undertook both Art and Design, and have dedicated my whole career to these disciplines. I’ve worked both in Australia and overseas for over 20 years as a digital designer, and during this time I’ve always practiced art. I’ve painted colour-study portraits of my colleagues, co-created an installation for the Melbourne Design Festival, kept visual journals, and painted artworks for friends’ walls. I have always stayed particularly interested in abstract, expressionist, non-objective, and colourfield paintings from the early part of the last century – a natural extension of a designer’s grounding in the early design language of the Bauhaus.

Exhibitions

2019    SUB, Solo Show, Saint Cloche, Paddington, Sydney
2018    CAMEOS, Solo Show, Saint Cloche, Paddington, Sydney
2018    Terra Oztralis, Group Show, Outre Gallery, Melbourne
2018    Ode To The Suburban Songbird, Tinning Street Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne
2018    No Peace In Quiet, Charity Art Exhibition and Auction, Melbourne
2018    This Is Home, Book Launch & (Group) Exhibition, Sydney
2018    The Mid-Century Project Installation, ICI House, Melbourne Design Festival
2017    Jet Set, Group Show, Saint Cloche, Paddington, Sydney
2017    Mutual Abstraction with Hannah Fox, Junior Space Gallery, Fitzroy
2016    Tidy Mind / Punk Heart solo show, Pop and Scott Showroom, Melbourne
2016    Small Works Prize, The Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2014    Belle Arti Prize, Chapman & Bailey, Melbourne (See the Belle Arti Instagram feed.)
2007    Beautiful View with Annette Wagner, Melbourne Design Festival, Melbourne

Formal Training

• The Art Room, Melbourne
• CAE, Melbourne
• The Art Academy, London
• Swinburne National School of Design, Melbourne / Bachelor of Design (Graphic Design)
• Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• Sunraysia Institute, Sunraysia

Publications

2018   RUSSH Magazine, Embracing change with artist Bec Smith
2018   The Design Files, Bec Smith’s Cameo Role
2017   Launched Tell Tale Signs with Nikki Stefanoff, an online chronicle of other people’s stories
2017  The Design Files, Bec Smith and Hannah Fox’s ‘Mutual Abstraction’
2015   Paintings displayed in house tour in Apartment Therapy online
2013   Poster for Man About the House show, Melbourne Comedy Festival