We were delighted to recently meet up with the multifaceted, visual creative Anderson Smith, to view his artwork and find out more about him and what inspired his love for art. — *We were delighted to recently meet up with the multifaceted, visual creative* *Anderson Smith, to view his artwork and find out more about him and what inspired his love for art.*

LL: Tell us a little bit about your background and what triggered your love for art and culture.

I am a native of the Chicago suburb, Village of Robbins (Dwyane Wade, KeKee Palmer) , and an only boy with 3 sisters. My love of art was triggered by watching cartoons and reading comic books. I was always intrigued by the artwork. I watched my aunt draw all the time and wanted to know how to draw, so I practiced in my room, pulling inspiration from those childhood shows and comic books.

LL: What is your life mantra? Place no price tag on your dreams because reality will cost you.

LL: Who’s your biggest role model in life and how did that person help shape who you are today? My biggest role model would be my late girlfriend Oksana Arkhipova. She was the one who sparked the flame into the blaze of an artist I am today! Had she not took me to NY for the first time 10 years ago, I would not be the artist I am now.

LL: What is your biggest accomplishment? And what advice would you give your younger self? My biggest accomplishment or at least one of them, was T.I contacting me with his interest in buying pieces of my work. Advice I would give to my younger self would be to be more attentive and listen.

LL: What advice would you give other creatives? Never give up! Stay true to who YOU are and never compromise your vision. Don’t take shortcuts, integrity in your work is important.

LL: Where do you often draw inspiration from? I find inspiration from life in general. What I see, what I feel , whether that is on TV or magazines, etc. Whatever catches my attention and gives me visual excitement!

LL: Which current art world trends are you following when creating pieces? I am a huge fan of hyper realism and abstract medium. Textures and patterns seem to draw me in as well!

LL: What is your favorite material to work with? I would have to say denim and resins. I like the complexity as well as the simplicity of them both!

LL: What other artists have been inspirational to you in your work? Basqiuat, Herring, Warhol, Jasper Johns, Picasso, Pollack.

LL: Describe your favorite commissioned piece. A Beautiful Chaos piece that I created for the owner of Ligne Roset furniture store. He wanted a mix of Blacksploitation, old kung fu movies and Jazz. It was fun and took me back to a time where childhood was fun to me.

LL: Any big plans for you this year? To take my artwork to another level and get into different markets outside of Atlanta. Expand my reach and work on more challenging pieces.

LL: We don’t talk about mental health enough. So what was the most mentally challenging part of 2020? I would say the biggest challenge was dealing with all the chaos. Being locked down was fine as an only boy and I spent a lot of time alone which is where I feel most comfortable.