David Smith

Foundation Design II
Heather Ujiie


David Smith (May 9, 1906- May 23 1965) was an American sculptor who worked with mostly metal materials to create sculptures. Although Smith started his career as a painter after he was exposed to a few famous metal sculptures he became inspired to begin venturing in the same field. Most of his accomplished art was created from scratch unlike many other sculptors of his time who were using molds. A lot of his pieces were three dimensional forms of subjects never before depicted in 3D like landscapes and writing. His most famous work, Cubis, was extremely reminiscent of abstract expressionism and was constructed using a technique of burnishing the steel with a sander. Throughout his career his pieces grew greatly in scale; his last pieces were massive. I find his art very inspirational because welding sculptures is something I have been interested in for a while, but have not had the chance to try. I also admire his continued experimentation in technique and medium. But what I idolize the most is his desire to yield completely original ideas. In my opinion what makes a great artist is the boldness to create something no one else as and taking the risk despite the fear of failure.


Art work pictured by David Smith
"Hudson River Landscape" -1951