I am a painter, printmaker and graphic artist and have been a Resident Artist at the wonderful Kew Studio since 2006.
I have been making pictures for as long as I can remember. I began drawing cartoons as a teenager at school and I have been receiving commissions as a freelance artist almost ever since. My cartoons, illustrations and graphic design has been used by a wide range of organisations in the public sector, most recently the London Road Safety Campaign. I specialise in communicating complex, challenging ideas and concepts with humour and simplicity.
Over the past three decades I have expanded into more personal paintings, drawings and prints. This work uses bold forms, colours and tone to explore the borderlands between representation and abstraction, drawing inspiration from landscape, travel, music, story and myth, as well as personal experience. Recently, I have found figures – human, animal and avian – finding their way back into my paintings. At the same time, I have been exploring abstract composition in a series of tightly hatched drawings made using a Uniball pen. My work often seems to have a life of its own, taking me where it wants to go. In this sense, picture-making acts as a form of spiritual exploration, an attempt to give expression and form to life’s light, shadow and ultimate mystery and bring order to chaos.
My artwork is owned by a number of private collectors in the UK and abroad and can be viewed by appointment at Kew Studio.
You can see my latest pictures on my website: www.stevesimpson-art.co.uk
