Dave Smith

Originally from the UK (born 1944) where he studied painting at Derby College of Art (now University of Derby) and Hornsey College of Art (now Middlesex University), Dave Smith arrived in the Bahamas in 1973 - the year of Independence - to teach art at the now defunct Teachers College on the island of San Salvador. Soon after arriving back in Nassau, he began making paintings with a ‘neo-pop’ aesthetic, but with a social awareness which aligned him with other local artists of his generation, including Brent Malone, Max Taylor, Stanley and Jackson Burnside - along with a somewhat younger Antonius Roberts who, together and in their own individual ways, contributed to the initial art movement in the Bahamas. Smith continued working in Nassau throughout the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, holding a series of 8 solo shows as well as participating in numerous group exhibitions in Nassau and Miami. In 1991 he moved to Los Angeles where he still lives - and although much of his current work comments on contemporary American society, his sensibilities remain shaped by the formative years he spent in the Bahamas and continue to inform his work. He has continued to show his work in Nassau in recent years and participated in groupshows of Bahamian Art in the U.S, Austria and Germany. During the last year he has participated in three separate shows in the Los Angeles area, focusing on British artists working in Southern California and had his last solo show in Los Angeles in 2020. He is also in an upcoming show of artists depicting Los Angeles, scheduled for Portsmouth, UK later this year.