BACK TO SAMPLES
by Roxanne Martinez
Now, Smith is making a name from himself nationally as a top sports artist. His work has been displayed at several exhibitions and most recently at the Dallas Opera Show. He has also completed a piece for the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Ga.
Growing up a young baseball fan, Smith began painting sports because it was familiar to him. Smith, who played baseball throughout high school and in college, recalls the stories told to him by his grandfather and uncles about their childhood and the great baseball players of their time.
While his dad and grandmother always encouraged him to paint as a child, it was not until high school when Smith began winning art contests that he became more serious about his work.
His house now doubles as a studio. Old fruit trays have turned to palettes that Smith uses to mix paints and a front guest room serves as a gallery displaying several of Smith's works. Smith's house is not the only thing that has evolved since his early days of drawing and painting sports figures. His art deals with a range of issues now, such as American culture, childhood fantasies and loss of innocence.
"The topics of my paintings are often greed, social injustice, racism, lost dreams and death-the realities we face as adults," Smith says. "The sports aspects become secondary, and the paintings become about frivolity versus brutality."
As Smith got older and his passion for art history grew, he learned more about the subjects that he painted. Through reading and research, Smith says his paintings become autobiographical.
"There were things that I learned that upset me," says Smith, who is often asked why his work deals with race.
"People say 'you're white' and 'you have no idea.' I hate when people look at someone and, in five seconds, think they can sum them up. A lot of people can connect with feeling like an outsider and alone and my paintings are as much about that as they are about racism."
Smith, who uses materials, such as acrylic and oil paint, tar, crushed pumice, aluminum, bronze, wax and barbed wire to enhance the expressive quality of his work, credits artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Lucien Freud, Gerhard Richter, Philip Guston and James Rosenquist as being a few of the artists that have influenced his art techniques.
Lucien's Freud influence is apparent through Smith's use of figures and multiple skin tones. Smith's admiration of Gerhard Richter's reference to photography can also be seen through one of his favorite pieces, "Weekend Dream."
"Richter's work is interesting because we are so obsessed with media, television and computers and most of our awareness comes from that," Smith says. "I am learning how it blurs how we are as people."
Smith adds that he does a lot of research before doing a painting. While he changes his work about every six months, he gets most of his ideas from art history and his myriad of subscriptions to art publications.
He already has different ideas for future projects in mind. One of those ideas includes a 30 feet long, 10 feet tall piece that would require all the senses be used and would take up an entire room.
"I might have to get a bigger house to do that piece," he says.
Smith also hopes to one day create a piece by sitting down and talking to a person about their own childhood.
"I want to create a narrative that is personal and universal, dealing with memory versus reality, our subconscious versus the lives we live," Smith says.
Smith, who earned his degree in Visual Arts Studies and Drawing and Painting from the University of North Texas in 2002, already has several fans, including Boston Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon. He sometimes receives emails from someone telling him how one of his paintings have caused them to get emotional.
"My baseball paintings make people think of their childhood," says Smith. "People see it's real and can connect with that. Human emotion is the same for everyone and everybody goes through a lot of the same things."
While Smith is reluctant to call himself a sports artist, he realizes that many already consider him one of the top sports artist in the nation.
"It's really a catch 22 because I don't want to be called a sports artist but I know I will be," he says. "Hopefully, I can go onto my own direction."
Smith signs his work with the number 9. Smith first decided to use the number 9 to honor one of his favorite baseball players, the legendary Ted Williams.
"As I grew older, I sensed added meaning in the number, seeing it as the highest number before additional digits are added," Smith says. "In this sense, the number is purity, and innocence before the baggage of life."
Smith is currently finishing a piece featuring Shoeless Joe Jackson. He is also producing high quality prints of some of his works and welcomes commissioned works. His work can be viewed at www.grant9smith.com.
"Even if I never sold a piece, I'd still be happy doing what I love," Smith says.