Mitchel Smith
Mitchel Smith kneeling beside a large painting on the floor of his studioTwo textured paintings hung on a studio wall beside a welded steel sculpture on a plinth
In the studio, Edmonton — Alberta

Biography

Mitchel Smith

Mitchel Smith has been making ambitious abstract paintings in Western Canada for over three decades. His work is rooted in a Modernist tradition and is collected nationally and internationally. He has a particular interest in the surfaces of pictures which he exploits to aesthetic effect.

Artist Statement

Needing to write an artist’s statement had me considering what I believe it is that makes a picture successful or good. Two things seem required; variety and unity, and probably it is the unity that is the more important. Unity in itself is not hard to achieve, but the danger of easy unity is boredom. And if a work of art does not hold one’s interest, I don’t see much point in it. Pictures that I admire all share a satisfying and apprehensible unity. For the unity to be satisfying, it must be surprising, unexpected. This seems to be the case for all art, not just painting.

So I try to do make pictures that have this.

But I dislike theory.

“A work of art which contains theories is like an article on which the price tag has been left.”

Who has said it better than Proust?

Maybe Debussy –

“Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art”

Mitchel SmithSeptember 2026

Selected Solo Exhibitions

  • 2024 — “Scenes from a Marriage”, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2019 — “Colour Floes”, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2017 — “Variegated Surfaces”, Winchester Galleries, Oak Bay
  • 2017 — “Surface Tension”, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2014 — “Chromatic”, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2013 — “Faktura”, Common Sense Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2011 — “Surfaces”, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2000 — “Contemporary Modernism”, The Devonian Art Gallery, Calgary
  • “Mitchel Smith, Recent Paintings”, The Art Gallery of Alberta
  • “Mitch Smith, New Paintings”, The Art Gallery of Alberta

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 2026 — “Abstraction Now – Harcourt’s Practitioners of Abstract Art & Guest Artists”
  • 2024 — “AGA100: Selections from the Permanent Collection”, Art Gallery of Alberta
  • 2019 — “Abstraction in Canada: 1950’s to Now”, Winchester Galleries, Victoria
  • 2017 — “Past Imperfect: A Canadian History Project”, The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
  • 2015 — “The Edmonton Contemporary Artists’ Society Twelfth Annual Exhibition”, The Great West Saddlery Building, Edmonton
  • 2012 — “7 Years in the City”, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
  • 2010 — “Retro-Active - New Paintings by Mitchel Smith and Sheila Luck”, Harcourt House, Edmonton. Curated by Peter Hide
  • 2007 — “flat”, The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
  • 2004 — “Western Modernism: A selection of painting and sculpture from the prairies”, The Trans-Alta Arts Barns, Edmonton
  • 1995 — “Artworks From the Norcen Collection”, The Art Gallery of Alberta
  • “Masters of Abstraction”, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art, Calgary
  • 1992 — “The Emerging Landscape”, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art, Calgary
  • “Three Edmonton Artists”, Grand Forks Art Gallery, Grand Forks, B.C.
  • “Studio Watch”, The Edmonton Art Gallery. Curated by Valentin Tatransky

Selected Public Collections

  • The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto
  • The Art Gallery of Alberta
  • The Westburne Collection, Montreal
  • The Glenbow Museum, Calgary
  • The Winnipeg Art Gallery
  • Remai Modern, Saskatoon
  • Triangle Trust, New York
  • Comino Foundation, Vaduz, Lichenstein
  • The Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary
  • The University of Lethbridge
  • The Winspear Centre, Edmonton
  • The Norcen Collection, Calgary
  • The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton

Bibliography

  • “Connor Buchanan interviews Mitchel Smith”, Connor Buchanan, Harcourt House
  • “Mitchel Smith: Faktura”, Russell Bingham, Common Sense Gallery exhibition essay, May 2013
  • “Intricate Beauty Surfaces in Smith’s Artwork”, The Edmonton Journal, September 9, 2011
  • “Mitchel Smith at Common Sense”, ArtBlog.net, September 2008
  • “Abstract Painting in Canada”, Roald Nasgaard, Douglas & McIntyre, 2008
  • “Large Canadian Visions”, Piri Halasz, Night, No. 41, 1999
  • “War of the Art Worlds”, Charles Mandel, The Globe and Mail, October 18, 1997
  • “Vanderleelie Winds Up Smith Exhibition”, Russell Bingham, See Magazine, #71, March 1995
  • “Interview: Mitchel Smith”, The Edmonton Review, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Spring, 1994
  • “Contemporary Artists Offer a Sensual Exercise”, The Edmonton Journal, October 2, 1993
  • “A New Interpretation of Art”, Charles Mandel, The Edmonton Journal, August 27, 1993
  • “Mitchel Smith, Recent Paintings”, Elizabeth Kidd, Edmonton Art Gallery Exhibition Catalogue, 1993
  • “Heir to Modernist Newman”, Elizabeth Beaucahmp, The Edmonton Journal, May 4, 1990
  • “St Albert Artists in Jewel of a Show”, Elizabeth Beaucahmp, The Edmonton Journal, January 12, 1990
  • “Painter’s Work has Impact”, Kathyrn Burns, The Edmonton Downtowner, February, 1989
  • “Mitch Smith and Gerald Faulder, Studio Exhibition”, Lelde Muelenbachs, Artpost, Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring, 1988
  • “West of Jersey”, Valentin Tatransky, Update, Third Issue, 1987
  • “Courageous Young Artists”, Vivienne Sosnowski, The Edmonton Journal, December 5, 1987
  • “Abstracts Demand Gut Reaction”, Ron Chalmers, The Edmonton Journal, October 26, 1987
  • “Abstract Painting in Edmonton”, Russell Bingham, Update, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1986
  • “Mitch Smith, New Paintings”, Russell Bingham, Update, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1986
  • “Studio Watch”, Terry Fenton, Update, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1985
  • “Critic Raps Ottawa”, Phylis Matousek, The Edmonton Journal; September 13, 1985

Workshops

  • 1990 — Emma Lake Artists Workshop, Emma Lake, Saskatchewan
  • 1991 — Emma Lake Artists Workshop, Emma Lake, Saskatchewan
  • 1986 — Triangle Artists Workshop, Pine Plains, New York