Within the Academic Quadrangle are two brightly coloured tile mosaics by Gordon Smith, a Vancouver painter who was a friend and sometimes collaborator of SFU architect Arthur Erickson. Though Smith is well known for his abstract expressionist paintings, in the 1960s he began to experiment with op art, flatness and hard-edged line. Installed when the campus was built in 1965, these mosaics were the first two works of art acquired by Simon Fraser University. The organic forms — bold vermilion orbs set against aqueous blue-green backgrounds — are meant to symbolize energy and growth.
Gordon Smith, Mosaic Mural, 1964, Venetian tile. SFU Art Collection. Commissioned, 1964.
Title
Mosaic Mural
Artist
Gordon Smith
Year
1964
Medium
Venetian tile
Collection
SFU Art Collection
Donor
Commissioned
Artists
Gordon Appelbe Smith (b. 18 June 1919 – d. 18 January 2020) was a prominent Canadian artist active in the Vancouver art scene for over five decades. Born in England, he moved to Canada in 1933, settling into Winnipeg and attending the Winnipeg School of Art. Continuing his studies at the Vancouver School of Art, he trained under B.C. Binning and Jack Shadbolt, and later studied at the California School of Fine Art in the early 1950s. Smith’s first solo exhibition was mounted at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1947. Smith gained international exposure in 1960 when he represented Canada at the São Paulo Biennial. While Smith attained recognition for his abstract expressionist paintings early in his practice, he started exploring op art, flatness, and hard-edged lines in the 1960s. Primarily recognized as a painter and printmaker, he also created several sculptures and murals for public locations such as the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the MacMillan Bloedel Building, the Vancouver Law Library, and Simon Fraser University Burnaby campus. Smith passed away in his West Vancouver home in 2020.
A prolific artist, Smith’s work is extensively collected both privately and by major galleries across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), the Vancouver Art Gallery, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. He was a long-time artist with representation at Bau-xi Gallery in Vancouver and Toronto, and later Equinox Gallery in Vancouver. In 1996, Smith was appointed a member of the Order of Canada, and in 2007, he received the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts, followed by the Governor General’s Award in the Visual and Media Arts in 2009.