Smith began his painting career with training in Melbourne and was active in Sydney art circles. He is a frequent entrant to the Art Gallery of NSW's Archibald Prize and has won and placed in the prize three times. Smith also executed a number of murals and inventive sculptural reliefs for the architect Neville Gruzman.
Smith executed mosaics and sculptural reliefs for some of Gruzman's commissions, notably the Purnell Motors Showroom (1955) and the doors and mosaic work for the South Head Synagogue, Rose Bay (1957) and the Gregory & Carr Funeral Chapel (1968) illustrated in the Gruzman monograph.