Terry Smith (circa 1956) made in London, lives in Folkestone. In 2008, Smith was a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Award. He is known for his cut outs into the plaster of walls, mainly in derelict buildings and spaces.

< Well thats how the bio normally starts. This has been written, rewritten and I am completely bored with writing it and reading it. One of the absurdities of being an artist is that you need to produce something about yourself as if you were someone else.

So the picture opposite is me. It was taken in Paris around 1975. I was a student at Goldsmiths, with two friends, Gary Stevens and John Wallett, we decided on a whim to go to the Paris Biennale, because our tutor Michael Craig Martin was in the show. It was an adventure and we got to meet, David Hockney and got a meat sandwich from Gordon Matta-Clark. We got drunk, ended up in a brothel on The Boulevard de Clichy. How did we get there? We were beckoned in thinking it was a night club, we descended a staircase that seemed to go on forever, we came to a small room, surrounded by darkness, and various women, the drinks menu was shown to us under torch light, we managed to escape.

The next day we were wandering around the streets and I saw this dog on the window sill, I asked my friend John Wallet to take my picture under the dog. It was only later when the picture was developed did I see the old lady looking at the dog. …anyway back to the bio >

Smith notably held the keys to the Tate Turbine hall, during the refurbishment in 1996 having been given permission to create his work in the walls and spaces of the building that was to become Tate Modern. Only the staff at the Tate and a few invitees were permitted access to the works areas inside the Turbine Hall and other areas of the building site to see Smith's work. Images of these works at Tate Modern were later shown at the South London Gallery in July–August 1996 for a group show called "Inside Bankside" Smith was permitted to create the same cut out works at the British Museum CAPITAL 1995 

Smith had his first major retrospective Parallax at the John Hansard Gallery, Southampton from December 2011–January 2012. Other works of note were The Foundling, a video-audio installation commissioned by Gill Hedley as part of the Foundling Museum’s contemporary art programme. Smith has exhibited extensively in the UK and South America (e.g. Instituto de Artes, Porte Alegre, Brazil, Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Caracas, Venezuela and Museo X-Tersea, Mexico City.) Solo Exhibitions include Fault Line, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (1999), Marking Time, Lux Gallery, London (2000) and One thing leads to another, Studio 1.1, London (2004). Publications include: 2000 Marking time. Nuova Icona, Venice.  2008. One of Terry Smith's audio pieces Untitled features on the album Root by Thurston Moore, released on Lo Recordings in 1998. Awards 1997, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, 1997 London Arts Board, 1997 Arts Council of England. Smith’s interest go beyond the making of art, as founder member of Human Rights TV, The experimental Art School, workinprogress and the new Strangelove film festival as well as lead artist of Venice Agendas he is active in many different platforms.