In an artistic career that spans more than four decades, Arvie Smith transforms the history of oppressed and stereotyped segments of the American experience into lyrical, two-dimensional master works. His paintings use common psychological images to reveal deep sympathy for the dispossessed and marginalized members of society in an unrelenting search for beauty, meaning, and equality.

Smith’s work reflects powerful injustices and the will to resist and survive. His memories of growing up in the Jim Crow South add to his awareness of the legacy that the slavery of African Americans has left with all Americans today. His intention is to solidify the memory of atrocities and oppression so they will be neither forgotten nor duplicated.