About the Artist

Darren Smith

Born in Cottesloe, Western Australia, Darren is currently lives with his family in the southern suburbs of Perth.

He has spent most of his working career travelling all over the coast of Australia in the fishing, offshore, tourism and research industries. In doing so he spent many hours repairing ships made of steel and many other mechanical components necessary for life at sea. In that time he has become an ardent metal sculptor, with a passion for up-cycling scrap materials to create astonishing pieces of art.

When Darren was a boy, and his dad left the shed unattended, he would entertain himself inside with anything he could get his hands on. This included the welder, and hence began his love of metal art. It was one of these experimental expeditions that allowed his dad to discover his sons’ secret passion, purely because Darren had left the gas on!

It was 1991 when he made his first sculpture at school which lead him to earn the Top Student Award for metal work. Twenty four years later, he made his second sculpture out of used exhaust parts, so that he could empty his trailer, at the time making a figure called 'Milfred'. Since then, Darren has continued to be inspired by the country's great Australian outback, mimicking these themes of nature throughout all of his unique handmade artworks that quickly sell out.