Biography
Sam Bates, better known as Smug or Smug One, is an Australian artist born in 1980 and based in Glasgow since the mid-2000s. By the early 2010s he had established himself as one of the most virtuosic photo-realist muralists in the world, working entirely freehand in aerosol without projection or grid.
His murals - monumental faces, intimate scenes, animals, suspended moments - reach a level of detail comparable to photography, based on shots he takes himself. The artist claims the legacy of 19th-century realism and American hyperrealist painting, transposed onto walls several storeys high.
Smug has painted in Glasgow (St Mungo, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Hand of the City on the City Centre Mural Trail), Aberdeen, Sydney, Melbourne, Tahiti, Atlanta, Detroit and Berlin. He regularly takes part in the Wall Therapy, POW! WOW!, Nuart festivals and collaborates with Rogue One on many projects across Scotland.
His murals - monumental faces, intimate scenes, animals, suspended moments - reach a level of detail comparable to photography, based on shots he takes himself. The artist claims the legacy of 19th-century realism and American hyperrealist painting, transposed onto walls several storeys high.
Smug has painted in Glasgow (St Mungo, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Hand of the City on the City Centre Mural Trail), Aberdeen, Sydney, Melbourne, Tahiti, Atlanta, Detroit and Berlin. He regularly takes part in the Wall Therapy, POW! WOW!, Nuart festivals and collaborates with Rogue One on many projects across Scotland.
The site contains a total of 2 artworks by Smug in 2 countries.
Artworks (2)
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