Born in 1954 in Northland, Peter James Smith graduated Bachelor
of Science (Hons) from Auckland University, before going on to
complete his Masters of Science at Rutger's University and a PhD at
the University of Western Australia in 1984. He currently heads the
School of Creative Media at the Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, where he is also a Professor of Mathematics and
Art.
Smith's dualistic passion for the scientific and the artistic
manifests itself in his painting, which underscores the language of
the visual with a handwritten, blackboard scrawl of scientific and
mathematical text.
His inclusion of these scientific explanatory notes of the
phenomena of the painted subject, whether abstract or figurative,
hints at Smith's underlying implication that the world as we know
it has an ultimately logical explanation.
Smith has held numerous solo shows in both New Zealand and
Australia, and his work is held in private collections throughout
New Zealand and internationally.