art
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portrait of an artist Brad Smith fulfills his destiny
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ince moving to Santa Fe in 2000 from Chromo, Colorado (where he was living and painting on a ranch), Brad Smith, a former professional musician who’s recorded with the likes of Stevie Nicks and Sting, has found his true calling. “I have a gallery and studio in Santa Fe because it’s my destiny,” he says. “This is where my life has brought me.” Having built a name for himself in Dallas in the 1980s as a painter of portraits and murals, six years after moving to the City Different Smith opened his eponymous gallery on Canyon Road. The current space, which he relocated to last summer, “is hundreds of years old and was originally a residence but then was later used by the legendary Santa Fe artists Olive Rush and Alice Kagawa Parrott,” he says. The classic adobe has traditional Southwestern features such as vigas, nichos, a kiva fireplace, and brick and wood flooring. Over the decades, Smith’s art has evolved in terms of style and medium. “From classic portraits to the most contemporary nonobjective abstracts—somewhere in the middle is what I do most,” he notes. Although Smith’s vibrant works, which are popular with both national and international collectors, are primarily oils on canvas, he also makes watercolors, pencil sketches, and sculptures. “I usually have several projects going on at once,” he explains. “I paint large pieces in the gallery and work with models in the annex behind the gallery.” When it comes to his schedule, Smith says that, while he doesn’t have set hours, he paints “nearly every day,” taking breaks to work directly with clients or to simply recharge his battery after painting for days or weeks at a time. “Sometimes when I stop, I wonder if I will ever have another creative idea again,” Smith says. “But after a couple of days I can’t wait to start once more. I find that I have 100 more ideas and not enough lifetimes to paint them all.”—Amy Hegarty
Gabriella Marks
Brad Smith Gallery, 634 Canyon, bradsmithgallery.com
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