One memory of my friend Tony Smith, who died this past Thanksgiving Day, was his penchant for wearing T-shirts. Ever confident in himself, he wasn’t one to hide the paunch such apparel revealed, even emphasizing the tummy bump in drawings of himself — attire as satire. I […]
Like clockwork, at 10 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Willie Smith, who has mild Down syndrome, accompanies his father Tony from their home in the Avenues to their West-side studio across the street from the LDS Church’s Welfare Square in Salt Lake City. Willie immediately goes to […]
In 2001, after retiring as a professor of art at the University of Utah, Frank Anthony (Tony) Smith also retired from painting — and the art market.
During his 40-year career as an art teacher at the University of Utah and other universities and workshops, Smith succeeded as a dual-career player in the local and national art markets. He is best known for his innovative, illusionist nod to trompe l’oeil through his groundbreaking use of stenciling, cutting, taping, and airbrushing. “He’s fooling you, folks,” wrote Susan Mendelsohn in an undated essay. “These paintings are fancy bags of cheap tricks. They are trap doors and fake bottoms, things up his sleeve and wires and mirrors … It is an invisible experience in the imagination, which shows us how the world looks through Tony Smith’s eyes. Because of his pictures, we can ride piggyback into his encounter with reality. It’s a very remarkable ride.”
The 1-5-B, Episode 9: Square One – Helper Artists of Utah http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/the-1-5-b-helper_1-2_1-2.mp3 For a while, seemed like everyone was painting still lifes. Images of vintage toys and figurines (maybe some marbles and matchbooks as well) viewed straight on and placed in nondescript settings popped up everywhere. It was […]
He’d rather show his work at Smith’s grocery store on the Avenues – galleries don’t agree much with Frank Anthony Smith anymore. But you can see his latest drawing, “The Big Tiny,” in a show opening January 16 in The Gallery at Library Square. He told me last […]
The irrepressible and exceedingly talented Tony Smith needs no introduction to most. A very popular U professor, he retired and wrote the delightful tome “Eff You: (or however we wrote that when we reviewed it so glowingly) Finally a Book About Me.” (Copies still available — try Phillips […]
Legend has it . . . Tony Smith would arrive at class with a pan of white paint and a roller, ready to cover up all the portions of a student’s paintings he didn’t like. He would throw a student’s materials into the hallway, yelling “Get Out! I […]
Ann Poore reviews Tony Smiths book about . . . Tony Smith.
