Check Out Brady Smith’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brady Smith. 

Hi Brady, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I began drawing at an early age, and as I grew up, art was the only thing that really held my interest. I eventually decided to study it at university. I earned a BFA in printmaking from Brigham Young University – Idaho and a Masters in contemporary art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. Since graduating, I have continued to work on my art practice. While I still consider myself a printmaker, I have also grown my practice in drawing and painting. 

Most of my work is made up of still life and portraiture. I began working in these originally through etching. The themes developed in my early etchings have translated to my paintings. First and foremost, I try to make contemplative work. I like quiet art that gives the viewer the ability to study, ponder and think. All of my art discusses emotional/mental health. By nature, portraiture is easier to emote due to our ability to sympathize with animate objects, whereas, in still life, I tend to lean on metaphor and concept to discuss emotion and mental health issues I am interested in. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an artist has certainly not been an easy road, and for that I am grateful. I think I would have walked away from art a long time ago if it were easy. There are many days when the motivation is lacking, or worse, when the confidence in my work isn’t present. It is very easy to doubt that I am having any positive effect through the pictures I make. There have been many periods in my practice when the support from my art community is absent, making it difficult to rely solely on my own confidence. 

Given the topic of my art, it has also been a great challenge to be so candid about my own mental health. Initially, I used my art as a tool to discuss my mental illness in a way that was hidden from viewers, but as my practice has evolved, I have found it essential to be open and transparent about my struggles with emotional and mental health experiences. It has taken a lot of work, energy, and time to get to where I am, and I still feel I have a very long way to go. 

I must acknowledge, however, that despite the challenges I have felt along the way, I have experienced great privilege in the support from my parents. This is not something that all artists are granted, and I am incredibly thankful for it. Being a white male artist also comes with a whole slew of privileges that I will never fully grasp, but am aware of nonetheless. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Conceptually, I am interested in exploring and portraying mental health through my artistic practice. Employing the use of two-dimensional visual art, I present to the viewer ideas regarding depression, struggles with suicidal ideation, relational loneliness, and other common shared melancholic experiences. This is accomplished mostly through still life and portraiture in a variety of mediums ranging from all printmaking methods, drawing, painting, and other forms of mark-making. The goal of each piece is either to create a composition that conveys a feeling for the viewer to sympathize with to gain a better understanding of another human experience, or to educate a viewer on tools they can adopt to help with these shared struggles. While there is certainly a space for joyful artwork, I think it is essential to portray other emotions of the human condition in order to assist each other in coping with this thing called life. 

I had the incredible opportunity to create a solo exhibition for the Arvada Center titled (Don’t be embarrassed by) Your Trouble With Living, which was on view from May-August, 2021 (after a postponement due to COVID). I decided to take that opportunity to make a body of work exploring suicide. I am very thankful to Collin Parson, the curator at the Arvada Center, for trusting me to exhibit a show on such a heavy theme. The goal of the exhibition was twofold: to talk to those who don’t struggle with suicide, and give them insights into that experience, while also talking to those who do have that struggle and provide them with tools to use to combat those feelings and thoughts. 

I am very proud of the work I created for the exhibition and for the reception of the viewers. I was able to have many open and candid conversations with the audience about my own struggles with suicidal ideation. My only hope is that people came away from the exhibition feeling better informed and better equipped to deal with this issue. 

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
The thing I like and dislike about Denver is the same: its size. Denver is in a precarious state where it’s not so small to be considered a small town, but it’s also not so big to be considered a big city. This is a great thing. It’s easy to move around the metro area, while also feeling large enough be a robust cultural center. 

The size of our city also makes it difficult to feel a real sense of community though. We are too big to know everyone in town, but we’re too small to successfully support many splintered art scenes. We have arrived at a place where we have developed multiple small art districts, all of which feel very insular and closed off. This scenario creates an environment that can be challenging for artists to feel particularly connected to others. You can easily find yourself looking around at all of the cool things happening in town and wondering how to attain any of those opportunities. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jaguarsmith.com
• Instagram: @jaguar.smith

Image Credits
Wes Magyar