Biography for Simon Carter (1961)
Simon Carter is an Essex based artist who loves to paint the shorlines and landscapes around him, getting to the very essence of his surroundings.
Simon enjoys how paint moves about on the canvas or paper and likes the journey of how the picture evolves to show through in his art. He observes and paints how shapes, pattern and colour work together in the landscape noticing surprises and seeing how it all fits together.
VIEW INTERVIEW WITH SIMON CARTER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB1fUV9ErkY&t=4s
Living close to the coastline, Carter continuously makes records of observation with drawings en plein, which are later transfigured into paint back in his studio. Painting with acrylic on canvas or paper he employs sensual colours and successfully pushes away from some kind of perceived fact towards a felt truth offering the very essence of the land and sea around him.
He has the ability and confidence to ‘let go’ and work instinctively. Through experience hard work and talent, he is able to take the delicate decision of choosing ‘when to stop’ and when to push the boundaries further. The results are refreshing free flowing painterly compositions, which continuously blur the distinction between figurative and abstract. Connections are playfully made then lost again in a daring mix of colour, shape, pattern and brushwork.
This well established East Anglian artist is already very successful having enjoyed regular one man exhibitions at Messums Gallery in London. Other reputable solo shows include: - The Minories, Colchester; Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury; Bury St. Edmunds Art Gallery, Suffolk. Mixed exhibitions include: - The Royal Academy Summer shows; Messums Toronto; The Maddox Gallery, London; The Mall Gallery, London & Gibberd Gallery, Harlow. Carter is also recognized internationally having exhibited in Toronto, The Netherlands, Germany, New York, Chicago and LA.
Selected Awards: - Thomas Hoblyn and Simon Carter, RHS gold medal, show garden at Hampton Court; Escalator Visual Arts, Arts Council England East and Commissions East.
Noted Collections include:- China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China; Komechak Art Gallery Benedictine University, Chicago; Madison Museum of Fine Arts, Georgia; East Contemporary Art, Suffolk; Falmouth Art Gallery; Ipswich Borough Council; Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting; Rugby Museum and Art Gallery; St. Edmundsbury Borough Council and University of Essex.