When walking around the LSU campus, you might come across circular objects that have a sticker of a smiley face with stitches on it. New Iberia native Brennan Williams, also known as B Smoke, is a senior majoring in art, who creates out-of-the-box art by drawing, spray painting and tattooing. 
Williams started his freshman year at LSU as an architecture major, but during quarantine for the COVID-19 pandemic, he used his free time to find himself and his passion.
“My art has no boundaries,” Williams said. “My passion is to create.”
He officially switched his major to art and has been creating ever since.
Williams first noticed his love for art when he found himself drawing on all his papers in high school. Since his hobby wasn’t football or basketball, Williams said some in his hometown considered his passion for art strange. But he still pursued it, making extra money by customizing and restoring shoes for his fellow classmates.
In his hometown, Williams earned an artistic reputation and a nickname, B Smoke. Both have been following him ever since.
Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring are two artists that inspire B Smoke. Both Basquiat and Haring created art in New York City in the 1980s. Basquiat spray painted anywhere he could, while Haring’s pop art mainly appeared in subways.
Basquiat and Harin’s contemporary and pop-up art are what inspires B Smoke to put his own art on random objects.
“If you look outside at the structure of buildings and landscapes, it all flows a certain way,” B Smoke said. “Everything is art. It is what keeps the world unique. I’m just adding to it.”
B Smoke creates and designs art on anything he comes across including posters, clothes and skin. In addition to stickers and paintings, B Smoke also tattoos at Ink Dungeon in New Iberia.
Jordan Griffin, an LSU sports administration junior, has received multiple tattoos from B Smoke.
“There are tattoo artists, and there are artists that happen to do tattoos,” Griffin said. “I view B Smoke as an artist that happens to know how to do tattoos. His tattoos provide a sense of uniqueness that you won’t get from a typical tattoo artist.”
Griffin has known Williams since college and said B Smoke is always growing as an artist.
“It’s amazing to see how much he’s progressed in a short time,” Griffin said. “The future is very bright for him.”
B Smoke recently had a painting of him and his logo on display at an art show called “BluuGenesis” at Yes We Cannibal, 1600 Government St., Baton Rouge.
B Smoke’s logo comes from a human head he tried to sketch but struggled to finish. Even after searching tutorials, he only ever made it to a certain part of the drawing — the circle with lines going vertically and horizontally.
Later on, B Smoke revisited the project and added stitches because he broke his thumb and was going through a rough time.
Recently, B Smoke turned his logo into a face mask with a dome-shaped object he found at Hobby Lobby. First, he sketched the whole face out, then cut the eyes and slits for the elastic to hold it around his head. Lastly, he painted it. He finished this project the same day he started it. 
“The mask I created is one of the best things I’ve ever made,” B Smoke said.
B Smoke’s message behind his logo is to smile through the pain and keep moving forward in the right direction.
You can find more information about Williams’ art and works on his social media @bsmokee and @bsmoketats. 

Gallery • 2 Photos

Photo Courtesy of B Smoke

The original sketch for B Smoke's logo (left) and the finished product (right). When displayed, B Smoke's logo always faces the right direction, literally.