John Noel Smith was born in Dublin in 1952. He attended Dun Laoghaire School of Art (1971-76) before traveling to Germany to complete postgraduate studies in Berlin. He lived in Berlin for twenty two years where he was an important member of its vibrant art community. He returned to Ireland in 2002 and he has been living and working in Gorey in County Wexford. Long regarded as one of Ireland’s foremost contemporary painters, John Noel Smith’s work forms part of important public, private and corporate collections across the world. He is a painter who often works on large scale projects with a distinctive attention to detail throughout the canvas. Through his painting practice over the past 20 years he has probed the relationship concerning the boundaries between figurative and abstract painting. For over 20 years he developed his technique and career in Berlin, focussing on identity and his voice as an Irish artist living in another country.

He has exhibited widely as a solo artist in Ireland and abroad including: Galleri Clemens Aarhus, Denmark (1989), Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin (1990), Galleri Asback, Copenhagen, Denmark (1991), Galleri lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden (1991), Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin, Germany (1998), Galleri Leger Malmö, Sweden (1999), Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (2002) and Green on Red Gallery, Dublin (2005). Group exhibitions include Colour Chart, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast (2003), In Time of Shaking, IMMA, Dublin (2004) and Berlinishe Galerie, State Museum for Modern Art, Photography and Architecture, Berlin, Germany (2004/05). His work is included in most of the major collections in this country including the Arts Council, Bank of Ireland and the OPW. His work can be seen in IMMA and the German State Museum for Modern Art – Berlinishe Galerie.