Artist John Smith took it all in--Black culture, history, news, sports, religion, and the daily lives of New Yorkers- the central themes of his work documented the experiences of his communities, "I don't paint to inspire. I paint to record what happened."

Growing up in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Flatbush Ave, Coney Island, and Bedford-Stuyvesant in the 1950s—1970s, being an artist was an unconventional career choice. John was determined to make the life he wanted for himself as an artist, an accomplishment that required discipline and force of will, which he called forth throughout his life.

In his mid-thirties, John enrolled at Pratt Institute and graduated with a major in drawing. He later became a painter and learned to paint murals with The Crown Heights Youth Collective. John Smith and Willard Whitlock painted "1955 Dodgers Mural/ Ebbets Field" in 1999. John also worked on several other murals and later assisted with the NYC Mural Arts Project in partnership with Community Access in The Bronx at the 176th Street stairs and Davidson Ave.

Trained as a peer support specialist at Howie the Harp Advocacy Center, joining Community Access Art Collective first as an intern, then a member, and a studio assistant, John has been an anchor in the community since 2011. He encouraged others to declare themselves artists, an act of self-determination, not to allow mental illness to define them: "People see our work first; see us as artists first. It makes us equal. Mental health isn't a liability."

In 2014, John won the F.E.G.S. Haym Salomon Award for the work "Memorial," a piece that he had been thinking about since learning of a 2012 murder outside a Brooklyn hospital. It sometimes took years of processing, research, or building the skills John thought necessary to create a work. Forty years after seeing "Black Sheep in a Red Dress" in a library book, an early, little-known work by Norman Rockwell, John responded with "Church Day: Woman in Red Dress." He created two versions with the same title. John's Woman in Red Dress is confident and grounded; in the first version, she returns the gaze; in the second, she looks forward, while Rockwell's image is of a woman cowed in the corner of a pew.

With the support of Community Access and a 2019 Queens Council on the Arts new works grant, John created "The Transit Series," exhibited at Jamaica Center for the Arts & Learning in early 2020. During the years since, he returned to themes of protest, memorials, sketches of the pandemic, and prepared a mural design for nonprofit Project Find.

One of his last series of works, pencil sketches from the hospital and a senior nursing rehabilitation center are intimate, each subject isolated and disconnected. They offer a rare view through John's eyes at himself and others at a vulnerable moment in their lives, not often witnessed in contemporary art.

As we move into a new year, we continue to honor his extraordinary spirit, talent, and friendship in our ongoing work.

Rest in Power, our dear friend.
Love and condolences to all who knew him.

"John was a sweet guy that will always be in my heart and was a great role model as well." -Artist Susan Zelin

"John Smith was a one-of-a-kind dude with an infectiously welcoming demeanor that drew you right in. His sense of humor was one of the things that I admire about him, and he was an inspiration to anyone who knew him regarding art and anything related. I can still remember the constructive art jokes he had with me whenever I shared my creative work, but there was also how he would sometimes call me just to check-in.
I proudly consider him a brother even though I only saw him at the Art Collective and other Community Access-themed events. He was definitely a great dude, and hearing from Amy that he was proud of how far I came before his passing only brightened up how glad I am to know him. Even if this eulogy is a bit late, it was only because it was hard for me to accept that he's no longer physically here. But I know that John's here in spirit with all of us, and he will never be forgotten.

Rest In Paradise Dude! Thanks for the memories!"
-Artist Shaka Williams

Two Sisters, Two Brothers, 2015

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