John Smyth

Vendor Biography

JOHN PATRICK SMYTH

Biography

27 02 1963

Born in Singapore to Scottish parents.
Moved to South Africa 1970.

Education
King Edward VII primary and secondary school in Johannesburg.
I studied graphic design at Wits Tech.
I moved to Scotland in 1985 where I enrolled at the Rennie Macintosh School of Art for life drawing classes, which I did for 2 years.

Work
During my stay in Scotland, I worked as a graphic designer until 1993, I then started illustrating which I found far more fulfilling.

Upon my return to South Africa, I continued to illustrate and do portrait commissions, it was at this point I got involved in large scale paintings and murals which coincided with the casino boom.

I have produced artwork for all the major casinos in and around South Africa. In 2001 I was commissioned to paint and decorate a casino in Lima Peru where I worked for a month.

On returning to South Africa, I was commissioned to illustrate a children’s book on ADD for an American Publisher and continued with private commissions.

This led to working on educational books for Maskew Miller and Macmillan Publishers.

In 2010 I started a small studio called Glofish which services the advertising and film industry doing storyboards, animatics and concept work.
Which continues to this day.

In the fine art world, I am a regular participant in the South African Portrait Awards since 2015 hosted by the Rust en Vrede Gallery in Cape Town which is held every 2 years. In that time, I have secured 2 top 40 and 2 t0p 100 entries. I have also been involved in various mixed exhibitions, notably Gordon Frouds musically themed exhibitions

Hobbies

I love music, ,Biodanza, playing the guitar, going to the movies, good food, animation and sequential ar