“The goal with each piece is to create something beautiful… nothing more than that.”
The Aesthetic Mindset: Art Without the Weight of Meaning
Shelby K. Smith creates with one simple intention—beauty. Her work, defined by sharp geometric forms and vibrant color palettes, radiates a sense of joy rather than complex ideology. While many artists position their creations as visual arguments or personal manifestos, Smith approaches her canvas with a refreshingly unburdened perspective. She sees her art as a visual escape, a carefully designed arrangement meant to elevate mood and offer a moment of visual delight. Each piece is a pursuit of balance, both in color and in form, aimed at producing a harmonious experience rather than stirring confrontation or debate.
A self-taught artist with a rich background in the beauty industry, Smith draws upon decades of experience working with global cosmetic brands like Estée Lauder, L’Oreal, and Bobbi Brown. In her final role as Executive Director of Makeup Marketing for Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, she collaborated directly with the founder to shape product narratives and develop compelling color stories. This deep-rooted fluency in color theory and visual aesthetics now finds a new outlet in her art practice. Her canvas is an evolution of the same principle she once applied to lipsticks and palettes: creating compositions that move people through sight alone.
Color lies at the core of everything Smith does. Whether it’s a subtle gradient or a sharp pop of pigment, her work is orchestrated to provoke emotional reactions. Every artwork begins with a palette—carefully chosen hues that dictate the flow and structure of the piece. From there, she brings order through geometry: clean lines, symmetrical compositions, and brushwork so precise it could be mistaken for digital. Yet despite the clarity and structure, each painting retains a tactile quality. The drama emerges from contrast, the rhythm from repetition. Her minimalism is not empty—it’s filled with intention.
Shelby K. Smith: From Beauty Boards to Blank Canvases
The path that led Shelby K. Smith into the art world wasn’t carved out in galleries or art schools but emerged unexpectedly during the global slowdown of 2020. Confined at home like many others, she sought an outlet to channel her creative energy. Her basement—unfinished, spacious, and previously underutilized—quickly transformed into a personal studio. Initially, her paintings were private indulgences, meant to decorate the walls of her own home or to be gifted to friends. Selling her art wasn’t on the agenda. It was meant to be a sanctuary, not a business.
However, the response to her work was immediate and enthusiastic. Friends began commissioning pieces. Word spread. Requests followed from people she didn’t know personally but who had seen her art in someone’s home or shared on social media. Despite her initial hesitation about turning her passion into commerce, she gradually allowed it to evolve. Today, her pieces are displayed and sold in galleries and retail spaces along the East Coast and beyond. What began as a “pleasure project” is now a thriving artistic career that remains grounded in the original intention: creating beauty without complication.
Her transition from beauty executive to visual artist may seem like a dramatic shift, but the skills are more transferable than they appear. In both careers, Smith is constructing visual narratives. Instead of designing product campaigns or color palettes for consumer packaging, she now creates large-scale canvases where form and pigment take center stage. The art world, while different in its audience and platform, allows her to apply the same sensibility with even greater freedom. Without corporate limitations or brand strategies, she can explore color with authenticity—on her own terms.
Color as a Catalyst
Color has always held emotional weight for Smith. It’s more than a visual device—it’s a tool for psychological connection. Her fascination with its emotional properties began long before she ever picked up a brush. Through years of developing shades for lipsticks, eyeshadows, and foundations, she learned how specific hues could uplift, soothe, energize, or command attention. That same philosophy now informs her artistic choices. She gravitates toward saturated, vivid colors, often incorporating a single high-intensity hue in each composition to create a visual focal point and draw the viewer deeper into the piece.
Although her paintings are bold in color, they remain serene in structure. The simplicity of the geometric style allows her use of color to take on greater meaning. There is no narrative to decipher, no cryptic symbolism to unpack. The focus stays on the visual interaction of shapes and colors. Smith compares her process to mathematics—precise, structured, and logical. Each element is intentional. This duality of emotion and order—vivid color within structured form—produces a soothing yet stimulating effect, inviting viewers to momentarily disconnect from the chaos of their daily lives.
Her artistic influences reflect her affinity for clean aesthetics and innovative color use. Artists like Frank Stella and Josef Albers resonate deeply with her. She appreciates their focus on minimalism, repetition, and precision—qualities that define her own work. At the same time, Smith draws visual cues from design, architecture, and even furniture. Her creative process often begins with digital renderings, which she then transfers onto canvas in large format. The scale of her work further amplifies its impact, turning familiar shapes and color combinations into immersive visual experiences.
Shelby K. Smith: Geometry, Textiles, and the Future of Form
Smith’s studio is a reflection of her creative spirit: curated, colorful, and filled with objects that inspire her. Located in her home’s basement, the space has evolved into a sanctuary where she can focus entirely on creation. It’s filled with materials, color swatches, and artworks that echo her aesthetic values. There, she protects her process from external noise, embracing an environment where clarity and inspiration intersect. The space itself becomes an extension of her artistic philosophy—orderly, vibrant, and intentionally designed to foster creativity.
One project she’s particularly excited about moves beyond paint and canvas. Her current artistic exploration involves incorporating textiles into her geometric works. Inspired by her admiration for woven fabrics, this shift toward mixed media allows her to experiment with texture while maintaining her signature structure. The integration of fabric introduces a new sensory dimension to her work without compromising her aesthetic core. It’s a natural expansion of her visual language—still bold, still geometric, but now enriched with tactile complexity.
When asked about a piece that holds deep meaning, Smith doesn’t name one of her own but rather cites The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. She admires the composition, the textures, and the emotional undercurrents captured in the painting. For her, it represents the kind of beauty that transcends time—romantic, expressive, and visually arresting. This admiration reflects her own desire to create art that captivates through form and color alone. Though her style differs vastly from Klimt’s, the shared pursuit of emotional resonance through visual design remains a common thread.
