Gregg Simpson's Artist Profile
Gregg Simpson from Bowen Island, Canada
i like artist
Artist's Statement
My work involved an evolution through aspects of surrealism and abstraction. I began in the 60s as a hard-edge, Pop-influenced painter, who also did collages, drawings and multi-media. In the 1970’s I developed neo-surrealist style, which eventually worked its way to a form of lyric abstraction. My work is on the border between abstraction and surrealism, formal design and automatism. I begin a work very spontaneously, often with the canvas lying on the ground and soaked with water to make the colors flow. Then I proceed to re-draw and mold the shapes, alternately adding and removing the layers of paint to reveal the implicit imagery. Ultimately, the painting tells me how to resolve the final result, which may, or may not, correspond to anything in nature. My paintings are usually improvised from the beginning, with only a simple preliminary drawing on the canvas as a starting point. The final form of the painting is arrived at through the direct application of paint, while elements of drawing are repeatedly allowed to appear and then are made to disappear, until a final result emerges
Artist's Statement
My work involved an evolution through aspects of surrealism and abstraction. I began in the 60s as a hard-edge, Pop-influenced painter, who also did collages, drawings and multi-media. In the 1970’s I developed neo-surrealist style, which eventually worked its way to a form of lyric abstraction. My work is on the border between abstraction and surrealism, formal design and automatism. I begin a work very spontaneously, often with the canvas lying on the ground and soaked with water to make the colors flow. Then I proceed to re-draw and mold the shapes, alternately adding and removing the layers of paint to reveal the implicit imagery. Ultimately, the painting tells me how to resolve the final result, which may, or may not, correspond to anything in nature. My paintings are usually improvised from the beginning, with only a simple preliminary drawing on the canvas as a starting point. The final form of the painting is arrived at through the direct application of paint, while elements of drawing are repeatedly allowed to appear and then are made to disappear, until a final result emerges
I was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1947, but grew up in the rain forest environment of the west coast. My work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in Canada, the U.S., Europe and South America and is included in over 100 private and public collections internationally. My work is in these collections: Museo-Fundacion Eugenio Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain Lord Eastleigh Foundation, Monaco National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile Museu Dom Dinis, Estrmoz, Portugal University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Evergreen Cultural Centre Gallery, Coquitlam, BC Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario Carleton University Art Gallery; Ottawa BC Government Collection, Victoria, BC City of Vancouver Collection, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC Simon Fraser University Gallery, Burnaby, BC. In 2012 and 2013 a retrospective of my work from 1970- 1975 toured museums in Spain and Portugal. In 2012 I was interviewed about my work by a curator at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In May, 2000 I had a solo exhibition in a castle in Italy which became the subject of a BRAVO TV television documentary, A New Arcadia, The Art of Gregg Simpson: www.greggsimpson.com/Videos.html My work is also available through the Coastal Patterns Gallery on Bowen island. Contact the director, Carol M. Cram at [email protected] www.coastalpatternsgallery.com