Michael Kent Smith

What came first, art or music? “The art. When I was a kid I would draw and paint like crazy. When I discovered music I dropped the art like a hot potato.”
How did you get started? “I started playing guitar when I was 14. I got four lessons free with the price of the guitar but they were sort of a disaster. After that I taught myself. I’d play records over and over again until I picked it up.”

Where did you study your craft? “My degree is in music, from Elmhurst College. My principal focus was composition. Guitar was my secondary focus. I didn’t study any art as a teen-ager, but I did wind up taking classes at College of DuPage later. Nobody told me it was supposed to be hard, I started drawing as a kid and just kept going.”

What’s next? “I got back a month ago from three weeks in Spain studying flamenco music. I’m in the process of working on my second CD which will be a mix of flamenco and jazz.”
What do painting and music have in common? “Art and music can be understood globally. They’re both non-verbal forms of communication.”

How would you describe your art? “It’s got two branches. One is realist. You could almost call them portraits, but I use a human being so you can look at it and see the commonality amongst all human beings in it. The other is more abstract and uses symbolism. Things that are charged with meaning, but I leave it up to the viewer to find that meaning.”

What has been your biggest break? “There hasn’t been one big break. It’s a combination of small breaks, of little coincidences.”
What work inspired you to return to art? “Marc Chagall, I saw a book of his stained glass windows. I could always draw very accurately. Then I saw Marc Chagall. It wasn’t about how real or accurate it was. It opened my mind to the fact that art could be so much more.”

What would you offer a young artist or musician starting out? “You have to do it because you love it, and if you love it, you have to do it.”

What do you hope to accomplish with your art and music? “I hope what I do is of benefit to the world, that I inspire someone. I want to contribute to the global society.”- By Sandy Illian Bosch