My portraits are not about accurate resemblance; they’re attempts to catch a living presence. Faces surface from layers of paint and drawing, then partially withdraw, marks kept, marks removed, histories left visible. The gaze is suggested rather than fixed; a line can be tender or feral, a smudge can hold more truth than detail.

Echoes of the Renaissance meet a contemporary urgency as figuration edges into abstraction. Each work feels like a memory arriving: specific yet universal, poised between vulnerability and strength. These are portraits you don’t simply look at you meet them, and they quietly look back.
  • Buffering
    Buffering , 2026
    55 1/8 x 66 7/8 in
    140 x 170 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Close enough
    Close enough, 2026
    55 1/8 x 66 7/8 in
    140 x 170 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Fiddles and features
    Fiddles and features , 2026
    55 1/8 x 66 7/8 in
    140 x 170 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Bigger Issues
    Bigger Issues, 2024
    48 x 59 7/8 in
    122 x 152 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Croud hunter
    Croud hunter, 2024
    27 1/2 x 31 1/2 in
    70 x 80 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Dalliances with significant adjustments
    Dalliances with significant adjustments , 2025
    39 3/8 x 47 1/4 in
    100 x 120 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Deadbeat
    Deadbeat, 2025
    66 7/8 x 74 3/4 in
    170 x 190 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Disconnect
    Disconnect, 2024
    27 1/2 x 31 1/2 in
    70 x 80 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Reminiscent of rumbles
    Reminiscent of rumbles, 2025
    66 7/8 x 70 1/8 in
    170 x 178 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Ricochet's
    Ricochet's, 2025
    39 3/8 x 47 1/4 in
    100 x 120 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Symphony of life
    Symphony of life, 2025
    48 x 59 7/8 in
    122 x 152 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Untouched
    Untouched
    39 3/8 x 47 1/4 in
    100 x 120 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith
  • Vanity Seeds
    Vanity Seeds, 2025
    39 3/8 x 47 1/4 in
    100 x 120 cm
    Ian Rayer-Smith