Carl Smith grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where from his earliest days he was introduced to the art world by the town’s vibrant art scene, and numerous artist friends of his parents. The American painters Tom Palmore, James Havard, Woody Gwyn, and Bob Wade were regular guests at family events, as were Native American artists Doug Coffin, David Bradly, and Allan Houser. In this environment he experienced a wide spectrum of visual art ranging from Abstract Expressionism to Indian pottery.  Surrounded by this milieu of artists he saw that there was a natural dialogue of ideas taking place between these people, and their different mediums and cultural identities.  This aspect of his background combined with his own mixed heritage of Spanish, Ukrainian, Scots Irish, and Choctaw Indian has provided much of the inspiration for his approach to making art.

 In his late teens Smith founded an art group together with three friends called Tesuque Art Barn International, or T.A.B.I.  The four members of the group staged numerous arts shows, and made several large scale collaborative works together in the US and Europe over the next few years. These paintings and sculptures generally had a strong narrative content and often presented a comic book like representation of the groups own travels and dialogues.  In his early twenties Smith began his college education at San Francisco Art Institute, but eventually transferred to Cooper Union in New York, where he graduated in 2001.

Once in New York Smith recognized that his time working and showing as a member of an art group had set him on an independent path that would be invaluable to finding his way though the overwhelming world of new influences he  was coming into contact with. In the course of his studies he incorporated silkscreen printing into his process and gradually began deconstructing the borders of his coming book drawings to allow the imagery to flow from one frame into the next, thus creating a kind of simultaneous narrative.  With the sketches from his journals as a starting point, he began to combine his own photos as well as found images to make multilayered paintings that had a play between the printed parts and the painted passages.  Studying under David True and occasionally Frank Stella at Cooper Union he refined a limited palette and an economical means of representation to express a variety of themes.

After completing his studies in New York, Smith moved to Berlin Germany where he now works from his home in the Prenzlauerberg district of the city.  He periodically opens his studio for one night art events to show his recent work, and is slowly assembling a group of young collectors who are appreciative of his art.  He spends much of his free time cycling, reading, doing yoga and tai chi as well as watching many films.  Smith also has an electronic music project called Casa Electro Novo and avidly seeks out live music of almost every kind.