Ashley Smith

'Big Nose Drawing' as a friend calls it has always felt quite liberating to me. Few forms of expression can punch so far above their weight as a fast and loose cartoon carrying a potent metaphor. This facet of my art has been our perennial survival line, bringing in weekly commissions for most of my working life.
When radio network wars flared I'd be running hot doing zany portraits of their breakfast hosts. I did political cartooning for the Christchurch Star and a twenty year stint of that for M.G Business Magazine.

Caricaturing is an ingredient of the cartooning field which can provide an interesting challenge - and much satisfaction on those occasions when the subject is truly 'nailed'. My painterly 'Caricature Portraits', done to commemorate milestones in the lives of local residents has been my most positive area of interaction in our rural community.

Ashley's cartoon archive at National Library
http://natlib.govt.nz/photos?text=smith,+ashley