Carl Berrien Smith was born in Darien Connecticut, and he always wanted to be an artist. He made drawings and paintings since kindergarten, and all through High School. His style was always one of self-expression and figurative narration.

He studied painting at the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, MA, under Professor David Smith. There at art school, Carl blossomed as a narrative expressionist painter much like the German Expressionists of the 1930's. Carl's paintings were bold in color, and were shocking narratives of human behaviors, societal and moral decay. His primary tool for narrating his visions was by painting a figure he calls Hugo, an alter ego he began drawing in the sixth grade. Hugo in Carl’s mind is a big man with a temper and penchant for wild women and booze. After graduating from art school, Carl painted constantly, exhibiting numerously in Fairfield County.

Then in 1994 he enlisted in the Marine Corps to be a combat artist. In 1995 he had his first solo exhibition in New York City. From there he has shown his art in galleries from New York to Barcelona, Spain. His work is in numerous private collections and on permanant display at the Reflex Contemporary Museum, Amsterdam. Carl exhibits also with the Vicious Circle in Greenwich, CT.