Darryl Smith

Born in Georgetown, D.C. in 1992, Darryl Babatunde Smith started making art as a way of interpreting foreign languages. He studied French, German, and Latin in high school and later began to learn ancient Greek, Italian, and Icelandic on his own. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he completed his BFA in painting, and at the New York Academy of Art, where he obtained his MFA in 2019 in drawing and anatomy. Through his knowledge of Latin and ancient Greek, he immerses himself in antiquity. Darryl uses Greco-Roman symbols and traditional renaissance techniques such as metalpoint drawing and egg tempera painting to connect his personal narratives with classical literature.

Darryl’s drawings have been featured on Fine Arts Connoisseur’s website and have been exhibited in New York City, Reykjavík, and Assisi. In the past two years he has been awarded residencies in Iceland, Italy, and Greece, where he created work inspired by the landscape and ancient artifacts. Recently his metalpoint and egg tempera works were exhibited in Hillsdale, Michigan, in an exhibition of contemporary silverpoint drawings.