Michael Smith

Best known for his performance persona named Mike, Michael Smith received his Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Programme.
The majority of Smith’s work chronicles the dreams and adventures of his two main alter-egos: the extraordinarily prescient and sympathetic alter-ego, the naïve and somewhat inept Everyman ‘Mike’ and ‘Baby Ikki’, an ambiguously ageless, sexless figure, as they each navigate (to varying degrees of success) the absurdities and alienation of the tragicomedy that is contemporary American life. Smith is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship award (1985), four National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowships (1978, ’82, ’88, ’91), and most recently The Alpert Award in the Arts (2012).