Artist Mark T. Smith was selected as an official 2008 Olympic artist by the U.S. Olympic Committee, Steven Heller catches up with him to find out what it's like to work for a client of this magnitude, the kind of guidelines that come with this responsibility and where to draw line on compromising personal values.

I had complete freedom to design the image. Because of the consistency and quality of my images, I am always called on to "do what I do"--most commercial projects that I participate in have a larger amount of input in terms of imagery from the client.

...That said, if my artwork were censored, I would have to rely on the voice of the global free press to assist my efforts to have a well-earned place at the event.

...I believe very strongly that the United States and the world must continue a dialogue with China. It is precisely because of this that events like the Olympics are of the utmost importance. It starts dialogues where there was none, or it can offer a safe topic to start a deeper relationship between nations with conflicting interests or large cultural gaps.