Born 1944, East Los Angeles, California
The artist's Cuban father migrated to the U.S. in the 1930's. His mother was born in and grew up in Los Angeles, the daughter of Mexican-born parents. They met in Los Angeles at the end of the Depression years and were married three months later. Both parents worked very hard to make ends meet, even after Eduardo Lorenzo Mario Smissen was born five years later.
An only child, Smissen was often left alone. He spent a great deal of his youth sitting under tables drawing pictures, a source of comfort and security. The more he drew, the better he got, and first his family, then his peers, and eventually his art teachers began to encourage his talent.
In 1964 Smissen found himself in France. While in Europe, he studied art at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and L'Acadamie des Beaux Arts in Brussels. He returned to his family in the U.S. in 1966.
Smissen subsequently moved to Hollywood, California. Got married, had a child and got a divorce. He has lived and worked throughout California, the Northwest and Europe — he lived on the Costa Brava of Spain for five years — and returned to Northern California in 1985.
He lived in Elk on the Mendocino County Coast with his wife and two children until he died in February 2015.
He is greatly missed…
