Gregory Kluger Smart

Gregory Kluger Smart studied at Norwich, then Farnham before completing the Drawing Year in 2003. From 2003-09 he was the Prince's Drawing School's (now Royal Drawing School) senior technician, studio manager and drawing tutor on various outreach programmes. From 2008-11 he concentrated on developing his own etching practice and led introductory workshops at Arcane, an intaglio printmaking studio in Hackney. In 2011 he left London to live in Rio de Janeiro, where he created a gallery and hostel for visiting artists, and worked with community leaders on public art projects in his neighbouring favela: Vidigal. 

In 2016 returning to England he moved to St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, and was the Artist in Residence 2016-17 at Ardingly College. In 2018 he became the Artist in Residence for Giffords Circus, an on-going role that re-connects him to his own circus heritage. In the winter months between tours with the circus, Gregory is developing his painting practice, this work in the studio is done not from direct observation but generated from drawings, memory and improvisation, and is influenced by, yet independent of, the observational drawings made through the summer. The human and animal figure, suggested yet opaque narrative, and a spirit of the carnivalesque are omnipresent. Gregory is also developing a project to publish a photo book from his families archive, documenting their life in London fairgrounds and the Circus, some of this archive can be seen on Instagram: gregoryklugersmart .