Daniel Smith uses a palette knife to create his unique style. [MOLLY HAYDEN/FOR SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS]

Daniel Smith likes structure. It’s evident in his paintings and trickles into his daily life.

Maybe it was the two decades spent in a monastery or the following two decades piecing together a life in Savannah as a member of the LGTBQ community; each course offering answers to very different questions. And while the structure remains, Smith’s life has begun to shift once more.

This time, though, he has not been given answers. Now, he said, is the time to ask more questions.

Past and present

Savannah artist Daniel Smith in his downtown studio. [MOLLY HAYDEN/FOR SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS]

Deep colors amass the table in Smith’s studio. [MOLLY HAYDEN/ FOR SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS]

Sunlight bounces off Jefferson Street before trickling in from the west of Smith’s brightly lit studio. He rents it from his husband, Matthew, he said, who runs his design management firm, Hallett & Co., out of the second floor.

A long skinny table cuts the center of the room. Tubes of oil paint stand at attention and his trusted palette knife rests on the glass top. The knife is the only tool he uses to create his work. It’s telling. It offers precision and accuracy. When putting paint to canvas Smith demands order before allowing the colors to navigate the chaos.

He talks about his life experiences as he guides the muted colors across his canvas. From growing up in Brooklyn, New York, surrounded by a large family, to the years of dedication as a member of a teaching order of monks. He studied art in China and Italy, opened art departments in schools around the country as part of this religious service, all while working to expand his own personal vision and expression.

Art has been a constant in his life since he was young. But it wasn’t until the late ‘90s, when Smith left the monastery, that he became a full time artist. He was earning his masters in painting at Savannah College of Art and Design at the time.

“College was eye opening. I had just encountered a way of life that on the surface offered peace and purpose but was not in reality totally as it seemed,” said Smith. “But the structure of the monastery turned into self-disciple as an artist, so I kept painting.”

Through this exploration, Smith began to notice the visual world around him in greater detail. Working from a studio on Wright Square in 2006, he began painting the ever-changing construction of Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center a few blocks away.

This gesture parlayed into his first museum show a decade later. His architectural paintings hung inside the Jepson Center along side Jack Leigh photographs of the building’s construction progress.

To date, the museum has 14 pieces of Smith’s work in its permanent collection. His work also peppers collections in Australia, Aruba, Antigua, Canada, China, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and throughout the U.S.

It was a leap of faith to leave the monastery and become a full-time artist. Only then did he begin earning money. He found the logistics of his perilous transition harder than the anticipated emotional toll, he admitted.

“I was lost, and not spiritually.” he said. “I literally didn’t know how to open a bank account, how to do things on my own.”

Through the inevitable changes that followed, Smith continued to create. His newfound freedom empowered him to look at his art differently.

“At the beginning, I was still trying to fit my art into the formal structure. Then I realized I could do whatever I wanted,” he said. “It changed how I explored the possibilities.”

Here and now

Smith’s small studio is filled with decades of work. He successfully gained representation early in his career and continues to amass a collection of his paintings spanning various styles. Together, they tell a chronological story, his life experiences providing the framework for his artistic shifts in process.

At times he sways from his detailed abstract work to focus on landscapes. He likes the horizons, he said. “It’s a fulcrum, a soft boundary, but there’s still order. It’s a question of what basic human need is beyond that.”

With his latest transformation, he revisited abstraction to create the series “Interregnum.”

Smith’s new downtown studio hold decades of work and serves as inspiration for upcoming projects. [MOLLY HAYDEN/FOR SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS]

Savannah artist Daniel Smith in his downtown studio. [MOLLY HAYDEN/FOR SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS]

Reflecting the show title, the work visually expresses the divergence between appearance and reality and explores the convergence of chaos and order. Smith’s use of bold color, experienced palette work and precise handling of wax technique thoughtfully evoke this perception of dichotomies.

“Personally, I’m getting over the horizon to see my next view,” said Smith. “I’m settling in and learning that exploring hard decisions can be a joyful process. If you know how to handle pain in a personally constructive way, it can be your guide. I’m asking more questions and realizing that I don’t have to have all the answers. At this point, asking the questions is enough.”

“Interregnum” is Smith’s first solo show in Savannah and is on display at Location Gallery in the Savannah LGBT Center through Nov.

22. The exhibition was curated by Peter Roberts in conjunction with Location Gallery. Gallery profits will be donated to Savannah LGBT Center.

Molly Hayden is a local writer, photographer and problem-solver. This is her column about art. She can be reached at molly.a.hayden@ gmail.com.