Smith, Richard (1931- )

English abstract artist. His use of advertising imagery in the 1960s linked him briefy to pop art. He spent long periods in the USA, turning to abstract work and developing the use of shaped canvases. From the 1970s he sometimes worked on a very large scale, turning his paintings into architectural decorations.

Smith was born at Letchworth and educated at Luton and St Albans schools of art before going to the Royal College of Art. His painting alludes to the scale and colour of commercial imagery but does not quote from or parody it.