Richard Smolinski

Despite aspiring to be a diplomat and actively engaging in international affairs, an ill-fated interest in editorial cartoons and a penchant for word-coinage led me astray, so I ended up as an artist. As a white, heterosexual, male, I embody the identities responsible for so many of the “ills” that plague our contemporary times, and thus I have much to answer for; I, however, chose to be part of the solution and, as an artist, I take on the role of gender, class and race counteragent and imagine my work as an antidote to the male aggression, white dread and entitlement at the root of the entrenched social inequities dominating our contemporary social milieu. I call this serum “Slapsticriticality,” a satirically-oriented form of social critique combining broad visual humor, unpredictable wordplay, acerbic caricature and expressive figuration. Examining social structures, power dynamics and behavior patterns, my works offer a dense and detailed picture of contemporary society and its antagonists. The Washington Post’s Mark Jenkins noted that my work “suggests German-American satirist George Grosz, while (my) teeming, hellish compositions recall Hieronymus Bosch.”

In addition to completing my BA in English at The University of Winnipeg, I earned my BFA (Honours) in Drawing at The School of Art, University of Manitoba, my MFA in Painting at The University of Alberta, and the first PhD in Art conferred at The University of Calgary.

As an educator, I teach in both the Faculties of Art and Design at OCADU. I have also taught at McMaster University, The Alberta College of Art & Design (now Alberta University of the Arts,), Brock University, The University of Calgary and University of Alberta.