Painter and musician Dana Smith finds his inspiration in rock ‘n’ roll
By Thomas Crone
Image courtesy of Dana Smith
For the past few years, artist Dana Smith has advertised his shows with a few delicately designed postcards left here and there or slipped into friends’ hands. The results of this reserved approach have been surprisingly fruitful, moving his work from coffeehouses and small storefront spaces to high-profile galleries. At one point late in 2006, Smith’s work hung at Hoffman LaChance Contemporary Art in Maplewood and two other venues simultaneously, and he had a fourth show in the works.
Hustling galleries for work “reminds me of being in a band, always sending out CDs, begging for attention,” Smith says. “I’m very happy just putting them out and seeing who wants to show them.”
Smith has played as both drummer and singer/guitarist in Cloister, Wormwood Scrubs and the Baysayboos, where he met his wife, Angel; he was the drummer, she the keyboardist. They now have a son, Louis, and just welcomed another baby in April.
The time demands of his young family mean that Smith’s given up his workspace in the basement of the Typo Café, a wireless-free (all laptops banned) coffeehouse in South St. Louis. He now paints in a spare room in his home, where he listens to classical music and peers out the window at Purina’s headquarters. He’s given up playing music but still uses local musicians as his muses; you’ll often see him out at Mangia Italiano, Lemmons and CBGB, photographing bands. From those shots he begins his paintings, tackling local artists, among them Eric Hall and Jason Hutto, two of his favorite and most popular subjects.
“He’s definitely got sincerity,” says Hall. “I’m sure he appreciates that people like [his work], but the only time I’ve heard him talk about shows is when he’s sold a piece with me in it.” Hutto adds, “He might have an opinion, but he doesn’t have an ego.”
Smith’s work is an unselfconscious body of paintings and sketches of world leaders, local buildings and songwriters in underground clubs. A self-taught painter (save for a few classes at Jackson High School), his images are full of heart, capturing places and people with an immediate, shimmering intensity.
“I’ve heard people describe my work as off-kilter, but not in a negative way,” Smith says. William LaChance, a co-curator at Hoffman LaChance, says, “Two things immediately attracted me to Dana’s work: an unmistakable atmosphere of indie-rock spirit and a kind of folk expertise in the way that they are painted. That serves to equate Dana’s strong connection to his subjects and an urgency to get them on canvas.”
A strong work ethic pushes Smith to finish paintings and photographs despite the time crunch and family commitments.
“I have nine or 10 on the verge of being done,” he says. “Five of them could be done in a couple days, if I had the time.”
That said, he adds, “I’m in it for the long run. It’ll be interesting if I’m able to make it to 60. I plan on St. Louis’ being in my images for a long time. That’s the ultimate goal.”
See more of Smith’s work at asbestossister.com.
