Montreal-based painter Michael Smith is regarded for his fluid and impasto surfaces as well as his ability to strike a poetic balance between representation and abstraction. Inspired by art history as well as historic and current events, Smith pulls from various sources to create his energetic landscapes and seascapes. J.M.W. Turner’s Burning of the Houses of Parliament and Jean Paul Riopelle’s palette knife abstractions continually shape Smith’s understanding of landscape painting while specific, historically focused projects push the boundaries of his subject matter. Michael Smith was born in Derby, England in 1951. Smith completed his MFA at Concordia University in Montreal in 1983. His work is represented across Canada and is in numerous collections including the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal; the Peel Art Gallery, Ontario; the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick and the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Ontario.