Jack Smith is a self-taught artist born in 1995. He works with acrylic and oil paint on canvas and enjoys painting everything from portraits to townscapes. His talent comes from many hours of practice throughout his youth; a painting can take him several weeks to complete.

Towards the end of 2016 he made the big decision to drop out of his University Architecture degree in order to pursue his ambition of becoming a full-time artist. Since making the decision he has been asked to exhibit in Oxford, London, Florence, Milan, Rome, Venice and Belfast.

At the beginning of 2017 he moved from Oxford back to his home town of Canterbury, where he is working on exhibition pieces as well as commissions. From the age of 15 he has been painting commissions professionally. Coming from a large family of 7, he is used to people and enjoys working with clients to make their ideas come to fruition.

His artistic approach is to capture the splendour of life, or to search it out if not apparent. Although the subject matter of his work varies widely there are themes which run through his paintings; taking inspiration from J M W Turner, he paints light and the effect it has on determining the mood, from dramatic sunsets to brooding mists to hot chiaroscuro, he conjures atmosphere with paint. Also influenced by L S Lowry, many of his paintings are inhabited by figures which add vibrancy and make his paintings come to life. His work tends to be highly detailed, at times photo-realistic, but his technique is constantly developing; the subject matter is what determines his style, and due to his interest in techniques of applying paint, the texture varies from smooth to impasto or heavy brushstrokes.

2017 exhibition: Still Life Chit-Chats