Gar Smith (born 1946) is a Canadian artist. His work is in the collections of National Gallery of Canada,[1] the Art Gallery of Guelph,[2] and the Canada Council Art Bank,[3] among other collections.
Smith worked in a range of mediums including sculpture, film, and photography.[13]: 56–63 He produced a large body of "camera-less photo works" works throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including mural-sized photograms, works made by exposing photosensitive paper to laser light and the light of television screens, and works made by painting photographic fixes and developers directly onto photosensitive paper.[13]: 60–61
Bells were also a recurring motif in Smith's work. In his 1975 sculptural installation The Food of Love, he created a series of bells made of cast-brass Duralex dishes. In his 1985 installation I Give Bliss, I Give Warning, he created a series of cast-bronze bells in a variety of architectural shapes including a cathedral spire, a grain elevator, a smokestack, a skyscaper, a lighthouse, a missile shell, and a plinth.[13]: 61
Sculpture commission for the Canadian embassy in Tokyo
Smith also designed two sculptures for the Canadian embassy in Tokyo designed by Moriyama & Teshima architects.[13]: 62 Titled Arc and Bow, they consisted of two large metal arcs embossed with the textures of rock and tree bark, respectively.[13]: 62
^Théberge, Pierre (1971). Le Canada à la VIIe Biennale de Paris ; Yvon Cozic, Jean-Marie Delavalle, Gar Smith / Canada : 4 + 3. Paris, France: Centre culturel canadien.