Cary C. Smith
b. 1955
“A Hartford Biography”
© Gary W. Knoble, 2015
Carey Smith was born on October 1, 1955 in Puerto Rico. His father, Reverend Roger William Smith, was an Episcopal minister who was a missionary in the Caribbean and pastor of St. John’s Church, Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands. His father was also a painter who painted landscapes that, according to Carey Smith, “looked like the New Yorker Magazine covers.” He later became the rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Farmington, Connecticut where Carey Smith grew up. Smith attended the Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, where he played soccer.
In 1973 he went to the Syracuse University Art School. (Hartford born Sol LeWitt graduated from the Syracuse University Art School in 1949.) In his junior year Smith attended the Sir John Cass Art School in Florence Italy. He received a BFA from Syracuse in 1977. After graduation he spent some time doing commercial art but later said did not like it.
His art career got a major boost in New York City in 1989 when he was included in the Whitney Museum biennial. In 1992, Patrick McCaughey, the Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum, presented a show titled, “The Cold 4”, that featured the work of four artists, Smith, Ellen Carey, Peter Waite, and Mary Kenealy, who had all lived or worked in the historic Colt firearms factory, located just a short distance from the Atheneum. Smith was the youngest of the group. This was the first show at the Atheneum featuring local artists since the “7+7+7” exhibition in 1983. McCaughey was quoted in a May 17, 1992 article in the Hartford Courant written by Owen McNally as saying:
“I didn't want it written on my tombstone that Ellen Carey, Peter Waite, Cary Smith and Mary Kenealy had all worked 800 yards from the back door of the Wadsworth Atheneum but had never actually shown there….It seemed to me that in the Atheneum's 150th anniversary year we should have one exhibition devoted to the contemporary living American artist, much as Daniel Wadsworth, our founder, exhibited contemporary works by Jonathan Trumbull or Thomas Cole. And instead of doing a more familiar figure like a Robert Longo, why not make the contemporary show vividly local?"
Writing of Smith’s decision to continue living in Hartford rather than in New York, McNally continues:
“ ‘For me, living in the Hartford area and having a studio in the Colt Building has been just fine,’ Smith says, discussing his deliberate decision to live in Greater Hartford, far but not too far from the madding art crowd in New York City. ‘As a result of being here, I manage to gather my thoughts and my strength and do my business in New York with a clear head. I don't like the air in New York or the continuous, oppressive energy. Being in Hartford has allowed me to figure out how I feel about things.’"
McNally described Smith’s view of his own successful career:
“ ‘I had a little slice of the intensity that no one had seen,’ Cary Smith says about his break into the New York City art world. ‘It was the '80s, and the art market was just out of control. Everybody was trying to find the next Jasper Johns, the next Andy Warhol,’ he says. ‘That atmosphere was to my benefit in some way, but in some ways it was unrealistic. It was kind of like jumping out of the gate at full run. I was holding on for dear life. I was frightened by the fact that this kind of happened out of nowhere. Since then I've had failures and successes, and I realize that the key is not to let the art world seem such an amazing place to you, but to just do the best work you can do.’"
Unfortunately the Colt factory did not remain a haven for artists for very long. By 2008, developers were intent upon turning the building into high-end lofts, out of the price range of most young artists. That plan did not progress very far and in 2015 it was announced that the factory and the surrounding land and buildings was being made into a national park.
In 2002 the Paesaggio Gallery in West Hartford presented a show titled “Criss-Cross” featuring the works of Smith, along with his fellow Hartford artists, Elizabeth Gourlay, Sol LeWitt, and Ken Morgan.
In 2010, Real Art Ways presented a solo show of Smith’s recent works titled, “We Are Dollars and Cents”, accompanied by a catalogue including full color images of all of the works.
In 2014-2015 the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut presented a solo show of Smith’s recent works titled, “Your Eyes They Turn Me”.
Smith has won grants from the Connecticut Commission of the Arts in 1983, 1985, 1986, 2003, and 2010.
His works are included in the collections of several Connecticut institutions including the Wadsworth Atheneum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Aldrich Museum, and Yale University.
Smith currently lives with his wife and two children in Farmington, Connecticut and has his studio in nearly Collinsville.
McNally, Owen, “Bold abstractions, aggressive colors that can disturb the way you think Cary Smith”, Harford Courant, May 17, 1992; “Atheneum draws big local guns for new show The Colt 4”, May 17, 1992
Harford Courant, 10/10/1961
(“Stop Light”, acrylic on paper, 16”x9”)
NOTES
October 1, 1955 Born Puerto Rico, Episcopal minister’s son, Rev. Roger Smith painted landscapes “that looked like the New Yorker magazine covers.
Kingswood Oxford School, played soccer
1976 Sir John Cass Art School, London, Syracuse Abroad, Florence Italy
1977 BFA Syracuse University Art School (Why did he go to Syracuse? Lewitt graduated from Syracuse in 1949) (He must have know Lewitt since Carol has comments on his Facebook page.)
Spent some time doing commercial art but didn’t like it.
1989 Whitney Biennial
1992 McNally
“I had a little slice of the intensity that no one had seen," Cary Smith says about his break into the New York City art world. It was the '80s, and the art market was just out of control. Everybody was trying to find the next Jasper Johns, the next Andy Warhol," he says. That atmosphere was to my benefit in some way, but in some ways it was unrealistic. It was kind of like jumping out of the gate at full run. I was holding on for dear life. I was frightened by the fact that this kind of happened out of nowhere. Since then I've had failures and successes, and I realize that the key is not to let the art world seem such an amazing place to you, but to just do the best work you can do,"
"For me, living in the Hartford area and having a studio in the Colt Building has been just fine," Smith says, discussing his deliberate decision to live in Greater Hartford, far but not too far from the madding art crowd in New York City.
"As a result of being here, I manage to gather my thoughts and my strength and do my business in New York with a clear head. I don't like the air in New York or the continuous, oppressive energy. Being in Hartford has allowed me to figure out how I feel about things."
5th Floor Colt studio youngest member of “the Colt 4” with Ellen Carey, Peter Waite, and Mary Kenealy.
`I didn't want it written on my tombstone that Ellen Carey, Peter Waite, Cary Smith and Mary Kenealy had all worked 800 yards from the back door of the Wadsworth Atheneum but had never actually shown there," director Patrick McCaughey says of the four Hartford-area artists he handpicked to star in the Atheneum's exhibition "The Colt 4."
"It seemed to me," McCaughey says, "that in the Atheneum's 150th anniversary year we should have one exhibition devoted to the contemporary living American artist, much as Daniel Wadsworth, our founder, exhibited contemporary works by Jonathan Trumbull or Thomas Cole.
"And instead of doing a more familiar figure like a Robert Longo, why not make the contemporary show vividly local?"
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