Fauve Sky, mixed media on rag paper, 58x78cm, 2012 Bleeding space shapes with a blue stain beneath and flecks of colour on the surface. There was news of massacres taking place in Syria, lots of political talk, but little being done to support the civilians.
Materials include spray paint, dust, gold leaf, foils, acrylic paint, glitter gels, varnish and glass paint; layered up, scratched and scraped away, and reapplied. Landcut, mixed media on rag paper, 58x78cm, 2012 Thinking about Syria, borders, a land cut. Varied paints, varnishes and foils, also tearing away layers to reveal the raw paper and stains from the painting activity. Landcut detail
Skoil, mixed media on rag paper 60x72cm, 2012 From a new studio in Bermondsey, I continued working on rag paper, but of varied sizes, as well as using canvas. This piece was made with a variety of paints and gold leaf. Skoil detail
Snorkel Ibiza, mixed media on canvas, 120x13cm, 2012 This painting started in a South London based cooperative living room. It was made in conjunction with two others that I threw away, though retrospectively would like to have kept. Those were also on canvas, and covered in the shiny purple dust from installations. This painting at one point had big pink and green splodges of paint slowly growing along the middle of the canvas. One night the main pink splodge had taken the shape of a sun. Somebody’s drunk midnight finger painting (not mine). Before the painting was complete I rented a studio in V22 Bermondsey, London, where I developed the piece to include many layers, with scratches going right through the canvas. Standing back I realised how it reminded me of snorkelling in Ibiza. I’d recently been there to make installation art with ‘Bloop’ street art festival and whilst there went swimming. The fish were brightly coloured and bold! Ibizan fish. In this second phase of the three year painting project (having moved out of the Deptford studio) I chose to move on from the first year format of 75x55cm rag paper. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that before embarking on the paper based paintings I had been making drawings for some years, using only black pen on paper and card. That exercise was to focus on the content of the work without material, process and colour competing for my attention. The adjacent primary artworks were then often large-scale, working within social contexts and necessitating project management skills. Snorkel Ibiza detail, mixed media on canvas, 2012
Painting Frenzy, April 2012, Sanayeh House, Beirut, Lebanon This painting installation was influenced by my work with children in a rehabilitation pre-school - Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation (GKCF) - in Mar Elias Refugee Camp, Beirut. Having left my studio in Deptford London, I stayed in Sanayeh House, Beirut, which was shared accommodation mainly with Syrian people at the time. To continue to make my own 'studio based' paintings, I used my bedroom as a private space to make work. Whilst based here I also made a graphite storyboard, and three paintings on board. Some of my housemates and their friends were remarkable artists. 'Yesterday I had a ‘Painting frenzy’, which followed a trip on the school bus around different refugee camps as the children got dropped home. It is telling that in my process notes I only stated that I went to these camps and it was a valuable thing to do. Expected more of a reaction than that. But later when nine fairly substantial paintings seemed to make themselves it was clear that there had been an impact.’ Lee Simmons art diary, April 2012. 'Painting Frenzy', Acrylic paint on paper, 60x30cm, Beirut 2012
Pink Splodges, mixed media on cotton rag paper 75x55cm, 2012 This was the last painting I made at the Old Police Station studios, Deptford, London, before moving out in 2012. The main materials and method is ink stain, acrylic paint, water-based paint and scratching into the surface as well as repeatedly adding and removing layers so stains and traces of the activity remain. On the surface of this landscape is a splattering of UFO-like pink splodges, which have a more sculptural form. I think of them as being their own species, flying through the forest. Pink Splodges detail
Algae, poster paint, ink , glitter, and acrylic paint on cotton rag paper, 75x55cm, 2012 This was made in the Old Police Station, Deptford, London, 2012. Algae detail
Green Fold, Poster paint, ink, and acrylic paint on cotton rag paper 75x55cm, 2012 Green fold was made towards the end of the first phase of 'Swimming & Other Things' project. In 2011 I was involved in work with a University, after which I reclaimed my art practice in the studio. This was also the first time I let myself really paint behind closed doors in a decade, having been mainly involved in outdoor painting projects, social art and public space works - organised and guerrilla. The series began on cotton rag paper, with a mix of childrens' paints and other institutional whilst decadent materials that I felt reflected parts of human nature I was interested in at the time. The painting remains underwater, in the suped-up natural world. This was made in the Old Police Station, Deptford, London, 2012. Green fold detail
Orange Claw, water based paint, acrylic, and ink, on Khadi paper, 75x55cm, 2012 The human form has dropped away to more complete abstraction, toward underwater on acid, with a clawing at the paper. This was made in the Old Police Station, Deptford, London, 2012. Orange Claw detail
‘Girl & Whale', mixed media on Khadi paper, 75x55cm, 2011 I painted a scene from this dream, so as not to forget it: The sea was dark. Cold, black water. I was swimming for eternity, no end in sight, and I was tired. There was no land behind, in front, anywhere; just black water of infinite depth and expanse. I couldn’t do it anymore, had nothing left. A feeling inside of me told me to keep going, not to give up, not yet. An impossible ask. Keep going, just a little further, you’re almost there. But I could see no end to the journey and had few strokes left in me. As I reached once more, stretching to continue what now barely resembled a swimming method, the ocean suddenly shone with silver fish skimming the surface of the water in synchronised arcs. The humble shoals reflected light back to the moon as far as the eye could see. How incredibly beautiful! Breath and fatigue went on hold whilst I floated transfixed by this sight. As my eyes bathed in delight an enormous whale rose from the ocean depths and my hands moved to hold onto the back of this barnacle clad creature. So huge, so gentle, we were now gliding through the water. Wonder and belonging replaced despair as my journey continued amongst these friends of the ocean. The painting was made in the Old Police Station, Deptford, London, 2011. Girl & Whale detail
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