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My primary knowledge of Mark Smith – artist and entrepreneur – before our first meeting was that he was responsible for creating two of the infamous entries in Cow Parade 2000, and that he had just finished a stint at Hot Rod Magazine's Power Tour – a tour that begins in Los Angeles and ends in Florida. It is an annual event sponsored by the publishers of Hot Rod Magazine, Peterson Publishing. Mark's 1966 Dodge Dart was the only hand painted hot rod among approximately 1500 cars on the tour. Obviously, I was quite intrigued. So, as I stepped off the bright, sunlit street into the dark hallway that lead to Mark's studio, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Surely this unassuming, clean cut, seemingly soft spoken face that peered out at me could not be Mark Smith – the same Mark Smith who paints cars and drives them cross country in a bold attempt to introduce art to the mainstream. I was mistaken.

His participation in Cow Parade 2000 is directly connected to the same principles that Mark stands behind. Cow Parade, which originated in Zurich, delivers art to the public eye. Sponsored by local business and cultural institutions, Cow Parade 2000 rallies local artists to paint hundreds of cows that are ultimately displayed throughout New York through August. Following that colorful display, the cows are auctioned off to the public and the proceeds go to the charity of the sponsors' choice. According to Mark, this type of promotion is exactly the type of public-private partnership the art world needs. "Sure, art belongs in museums and galleries," he says, "but only a couple hundred people a day see that art – tops. Why not take it out of the museums where it can be viewed by thousands, and by a lot of folks who might not normally get into a museum? It makes it a lot more fun, and a lot more accessible to the average American."

Mark's commitment to being an artist came at a very young age. He would draw all day in silence to the point where his parents, although supportive, became worried. At fourteen while hospitalized for a severe illness he made the commitment. "I just decided I'm going to be an artist. I don't know much else about life. But this I know. From here on out I'm going to spend all my time and energy to become better, and I have done just that." So it's no wonder his client list includes IBM, MTV, Sony, Microsoft, Newsweek and Walt Disney, as well as some well-known private collectors.

Popnyc, a new media company that does character design and animation, as well as online multi-player games is one of Mark's most recent ventures. He began the company in 1991 with one of his best friends Vincent LaCava. Their company has designed characters for MTV's Webriot, Cartoon Network, and is responsible for the success of the on-line versions of Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy.

What's the idea behind the cows?

Could you tell me a little bit about the cow parade?
It started in Zurich, Switzerland, and then they had one in Chicago; it was extremely well received. The way it works is that they obtain corporate sponsorship for the cows. The money goes to the artist to create the cow and the rest goes to shipping, handling, installation, and maintenance of the cow. In September they have an auction and the money will go to a charity of the corporations' choice.

How much does one pay for a cow?
Well in Chicago the average price paid for a cow was $25,000 and the highest price paid was over $120,000.

Who sponsored you and how does the artist get selected?
I did two of them and they were sponsored by the Timberland store. I submitted a sketch and was chosen based on my sketch.

There are so many different details on your cow, how did you come up with the ideas?
I knew some of what I wanted to put on it, but obviously once you start dealing with the actual object its different than the flat sketch. I had to take into account different surfaces, the way things curve and chose patterns based on that. There are certain recurring patterns that I like that are influenced from Native American work. A lot of people said the cows look like a piñata and I like that description.

So going from cows to hot rods; could you tell me a little bit about the tour?
For a while there was a trend towards really expensive show cars that never got driven. There are some people, like myself who have hot rods that they drive everyday. And then there are people who never drive their cars. The event started as a reaction to that to say hey why don't you get out and drive you car.

What makes a hot rod?
What makes a hot rod is hard to define but basically it's a car that's been modified in one way or another. Some cars are newer but a vast majority of the cars are from the 60's and earlier.

How did you become involved in the tour?
I have a passion for old cars. I've always had an old car. Because of that I knew about the magazine and the event. For me it was both a marketing tool and sounded like it would be a lot of fun.

What was the most memorable thing about the trip?
There were so many things that happened that totally exceeded my expectations. One day we were driving through the dessert in Utah and it was about 115 degrees. There was a cloudburst and it started pouring rain. The road was so hot there was steam rising off the road about two feet high so it looked like we were driving through the clouds. In fact, we never put the top up, we were so grateful for something cool. As the storm stopped, I noticed that the tires were throwing off these long flumes like rooster tails forming rainbows. It was pretty intense. We were driving down the highway seventy miles an hour with these giant rainbows coming off the car. I've never seen anything like that. The other thing I remember is all the different people I met.

What do you think about the merging of technology and art?
I think its great. Here's my feeling about photography and the digital world; any photographers who are working commercially and don't go digital will go out of business.

So, what if you applied that same principle to painting?
It's the same thing. To me painting is in a way kind of an irrelevant expression in terms of what its' place is in society. This is something I have struggled with for awhile. I mean, think about how many people would take the time and energy and cost to commission an original piece of artwork. I don't know a lot of people that do and I'm an artist. It seems to me in the collective means of expression before the camera there was painting and the 20th century was the camera and the 21st century is going to be digital film whatever form that takes. I mean I can paint on PhotoShop, its great I can do things that I can't do on a canvas. But you can do things on a canvas that can't be done on a computer. I like the visceral.

Do you think that it is ever going to be lost?
I don't think so. Somebody asked Picasso what he thought about the camera relative to portrait painters going out of business. And he had a quote that I thought was profound. "The camera has defined what painting doesn't have to be" so instead of saying what its taken away, it's what it is adding. The same with painting, the computer defines what painting doesn't have to be. There is no computer program that can simulate the texture of charcoal on a canvas the way that its looks there (indicates a painting on the wall.) The computer could never print out that texture. It's valuable for that and it's valuable to me. For me it's about the application of when I put it down its right there in front of me. I enjoy the physical interaction of painting. I like picking up the canvas and moving it around. You can't do that on a computer.

Whose work has had a significant impact on you?
If I had to pick my two favorite artists, I would pick Picasso and Ray Charles. They both had long productive careers and they did a tremendous variety of works. Picasso did everything from realism to abstraction, large scale, small scale, commercial, non-commercial. The same is true of Ray Charles, he can sing anything. The thing I learned from him is that the integrity of the work is in the work, not in who you do the work for, not in the end result or the end application of the work. To me it's important that every single piece of work measures up to the standard. There is no work that I have done commercially that I wouldn't hang on the wall with stuff I've done for myself.

You knew your vocation at a very young age. Has that commitment wavered for you as you have evolved as a person?
It's not a hard commitment to keep, but it does play hell on relationships. It's such a big commitment. And when you make a commitment like that and it's been years since I made it, so you don't just one day say okay I'm done with that. Because of that reality, it's hard on the people I'm with. It's my solitary focus to the exclusion of everything else sometimes.

So then is it hard to switch gears when you work on Popnyc?
No. I'm as passionate about Popnyc as I am about painting. I'm the executive producer so I produce all the jobs and do all the client meetings. I'm out all the time talking to people; I love that it's so fun. The other thing I really like is assembling a team for each new project. I like that.

What do you do to keep yourself inspired?
One of the exercises I pursue for my own paintings is I pick an artist and I work from their work. I go to museums and I look at their work and I redraw and redraw and redraw. You learn about the way they structure picture plane, color theory, all the things you never learn from reading.

- Contributed by Mary Beth Holland