Peter Smith

Born: Mansfield (1967)
Lives and works: Lincolnshire
Exhibitions: Sex, Drugs 'n Sausage Rolls (2020), Eccentricus Britannicus (2019), Screwballed (2017)
“Complex, comforting, humorous, puzzling, perplexing and entertaining, each creation has its own story to tell. Somewhere, someplace there’s an Impossimal creation waiting just for you.”

Peter Smith | The Shaker Maker 2023

Minted

Peter Smith

Peter and Jayne Smith are a British artistic duo and creators of one of the most collectable and beloved series of fine artworks. Popular culture, social critique and an insatiable love for finding the fun in life, Peter and Jayne's creations remind us to recapture a little of that cheeky childhood sparkle we so often grow out of.

Together they have created the Lost Impossimals™, Lost Alice™ and Impossimals® series, which feature his beloved characters in a range of humorous scenes and situations. The Impossimals have gained a dedicated following among art enthusiasts for their unique blend of humour, creativity, and artistic craftsmanship.

The talented duo has a range of original and limited edition artworks and sculptures available including their brand new collection, The Shaker Maker. Peter and Jayne returned, by popular demand, with the latest in their Impossimal drinks series: 'The Shaker Maker', featuring their own twist on a menu of the classic cocktails we all know and love.

Inspiration

With Peter as a contemporary still-life painter with a rich background in character graphics, and the duo’s humorous approach to life, their artworks are known for their intricate details and vibrant colours, giving them a surreal and captivating quality.

With inspirations and influences ranging from classic still life masters, to the off the wall authors and artists of rare and collectible publications and lowbrow surreal art movement, Peter and Jayne have a distinct approach to their artwork and unbridled creativity that has remained incredibly personal. Peter’s fusion of classical oil painting techniques and irreverent humour gives his work a decidedly contemporary twist.

Full of ingenious riddles, wordplay and visual jokes, the duo’s surreal yet endearing artworks make an incredible gift or finishing touch to a home. Adult themes of love, debauchery and gluttony are underpinned by a desire to make his collectors smile and remember "the imaginative wonderment and limitless creativity" we experienced as children, which Peter believes is "something we lost as we got a little older."

 

Impossimals

With an experienced background in character graphics, Peter Smith is an expert in capturing the essence of a person within drawing and animation. Originally intrigued by how few features allowed him to expressively capture and portray a person's character, the Impossimals were born and grew to represent many real people in Peter and Jaynes circle of family, friends, and colleagues.

Since then, Peters Impossimal renderings have captured the cultural imagination of a huge number of art lovers growing into a loyal collector base. By no means simple creations, the Impossimals have grown to encompass a rich backstory and span several expressions of existence. The Impossimals have always been created for and beloved by an adult audience, encompassing classic British wit and sarcasm; representing adult themes and recognisable expressions.

With everyone finding that little something they love, the Impossimals have become the most recognisable characters in Fine Art, no doubt down to Peters fine artistic craftsmanship and the amusing, ironic and all too relevant situational humour they find themselves in! Peter says: “Complex, comforting, humorous, puzzling, perplexing and entertaining, each creation has its own story to tell. It doesn't matter if you are young or old, which path through life you take, if you like art or not, or how and where you hang your art: somewhere, someplace there’s an Impossimal creation waiting just for you.”

Shop Peter and Jayne's latest limited edition and original artworks here

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Inside the Impossimal world of Peter Smith

From baking hundreds of jammy cakes and scones to guzzling wine and installing a miniature working railway station, life at Impossimal HQ is never dull. The pair’s home is the perfect studio for their eccentric art, with quirks including a Victorian dining room and a two-foot teapot. Peter and Jayne are fond of creating a set to bring their characters to life, with Jayne using clay to form the shapes and metals and mixed media for the background. Peter in turn works mainly in oils on board for his paintings, and clay and cloth for the sculptures. 

Inside the studio is a wonderland of curiosities: along with a Victorian apothecary cabinet with real medicines, Peter and Jayne share their art space with a skeleton. Used for their Lost Impossimals™ and Lost Alice™ character work, this ghoulish figure is clad in a Victorian temperance sash, which was used during the social movement to prohibit alcohol. Atop its shoulder is a 1930s doll, and on its skull is a headmaster's mortar board hat, with a red wooden apple for its heart. 

Hanging on the walls are construction sketches for the Impossimal characters, along with a frame filled with an assortment of childhood memories, games and vintage artefacts. These include an old Secret Agent ID, a set of false teeth, a flintlock pistol, a belt buckle from Peter's teenage years and a box of working matches from 1903. Another quirky feature is a horse saddle, which Peter sits on to paint!

From the blog

Peter and Jayne Smith shake things up with their new Impossimals collection

Just in time for festive frolics at Christmas, the Smiths bring us a selection of classic cocktails in their Shaker Maker collection, featuring their classic Impossimals having a feast of fun!

Sip, sip, hooray! Peter & Jayne Smith's Impossimals are back on the bottle in the new collection!

From Peter and Jayne Smith’s witty imaginations comes the latest in their collection featuring their loveable Impossimals getting saucy with the addition of a little glass of something boozy – Sip!

Magazines and brochures

Peter & Jayne Smith | Pick 'N' Mix | 2021

Pick up your nails and hammer because it's time to get creative with the art of Impossimal wallscaping! As the biggest release from Peter and Jayne Smith to date, the new Pick 'N' Mix collection celebrates 15 years of the mischievous duo's best-loved creations, with one limited edition artwork per year they've been wreaking havoc. 

Peter & Jayne Smith | Sex, Drugs 'n Sausage Rolls

The Impossimals® are back for the rebellious Sex, Drugs ‘n Sausage Rolls collection from Peter and Jayne Smith. The series is an amusing sideswipe at life: people, coffee, swearing, diets, cats and dogs are all rolled up in nudge-nudge, wink-wink innuendo.

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