YESTERDAYNITE

"Alim Smith is a Delaware born artist whose work moves through painting, printmaking, and the stories that shaped him. His art has shown in galleries across the country, built from years of studying images, language, and the way people communicate. Smith pulls from the humor, history, and everyday moments in his culture, stretching and bending them into something slightly surreal but still familiar. He is currently Grammy nominated for painting the cover of Mac Miller’s posthumous album Balloonerism."

Smith’s journey into the art world was ignited by an early, fleeting crush. In elementary school, hoping to impress a girl, he put together a small portfolio from a self-portrait to a Garfield drawing but ended up being accepted into Wilmington’s Cab Calloway School of the Arts for writing.

At Cab Calloway, Smith’s passion blossomed among creative peers. Around that time, an encounter with M.C. Escher’s mindbending prints left a lasting impression. Smith was so mesmerized by an Escher book that he “borrowed” it from a teacher forever.

Graduating high school in 2008 brought new trials. Smith was diagnosed with epilepsy and, when his mother lost her job, his college art school plans were derailed. But he never stopped creating. Working from his living room, he painted a portrait of Barack Obama with Mike Silva and hustled to sell prints of it at the D.C. presidential inauguration, proving the power of his art. In time, Smith’s vision found a broader stage. His Afrosurrealist portraits for FX’s Atlanta Season 3 were commissioned as the show’s promotional art a campaign that went on to win a coveted Clio Award for its striking creativity. He also co-art directed the album packaging for Mac Miller’s posthumous Balloonerism, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package. Even Smith’s experimental printmaking using a sneaker as a paint brush became the subject of Black AF, a short documentary that toured film festivals.

Through it all, his art remains vibrantly rooted in Black culture, women, and entertainment. “Yesterday Nite,” the deliberately misspelled moniker he adopted, embodies his offbeat ethos: “It’s wrong, but it feels good.” Each piece bursts with rhythmic energy, sly humor and bold cultural references, delivering his message loud and clear. “I want you to get what I’m trying to say when I say it,” Smith says.