Life isn't a bed of roses, emotions can turn dark in the blink of an eye, and art, real art, isn't about decoration, it's purpose is to reflect the experience of lives in this sometimes beautiful and awe inspiring, sometimes ugly and threatening existence that we all share as human beings. Simon Birch reacts to his world in an explosive way, the dichotomy of his work is the intangible division between violent expression and the awe of the spectacle, and as soon as one witnesses his work they recognise its quality, both technically and emotionally. His exhibitions envelop the viewer in a parade of colour, movement and figurative splendour, there's as much action on offer in his work as any Hollywood blockbuster, yet the intent behind his unique paintings is less about cause and effect as about the ambiguity of the moment in between.
Early photographers knew this mid-space in time and motion only too well, in a long exposure faces can distort, bodies can move, the light can change, and what results might now appear as a triumph in contemporary abstraction, in those bygone days would have been seen as photographic atrocity. To this day many artists continue to believe that painting is a far more expressive and less mechanical process than photography, when done well figurative painting can capture expression, mood, scale, perspective and a whole heap of other technicalities of visual representation, yet it reaches further into the human psyche. An instinctual familiarity that both encompasses the emotional state of painter and subject, merging them in an evocative embrace of perceptual and sensual turbulence unrecognised by anything other than a sentient being.
Simon Birch is a UK born artist of Armenian descent who's lived in Hong Kong for many years now. He stumbled into an art career, almost by accident, chasing employment across the world he finally earned enough money from construction work to fund himself as an artist. He soon signed up with the gallery 10 Chancery Lane and has never looked back since. Providing a counterpoint to his impressive ouevre of figurative painting Simon has expanded into film and installation work including two notable large scale projects, 2007's Azhanti High Lightning at Singapore's Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, an installation in seven parts crammed into a 50m long gallery representing 7 stages of life from birth to death, and This Brutal House, a multimedia show in April 2008 that literally took over 10 Chancery Lane's project space. In 2009 he exhibited a stunning solo show at the Carmichael Gallery in L.A.
His intention to overwhelm his audience, be it in scale, interpretation, technical ability, subject matter or emotional effect, is only limited by his budget, something that plagues many artist's lives as you know. What Simon brings to the table is a sense of spectacle, sorely missed outside the sub-genres of urban art, street art and graffiti, it is difficult for many artists to break the invisible barrier between the gallery-based arts market and the general public. But on every level this man aims to connect, deeply and profoundly, with the very nature of humans being.
See more of Simon Birch's outstanding figurative paintings at www.simon-birch.com.
amazing arts
He should keep it up…
Simon is really talented
Great stuff.
BTW, does Simon Birch do any paintings involving combatants of boxing and MMA?
Try asking Simon Birch? info@simon-birch.com