Simon Gales started by stating 17th century artworks as some of his earliest influences, also ideas of existence and space that were being discussed/discovered at the time. He also cited everyday things and objects as an influence as well as questions of us as a species in space and the brevity of life.
Gales is a painter by practice and nature and showed more interest in his idea and concept than in the media and whether it is relevant. He makes though provoking work that challenges viewers perception either directly through the use of 3D and painted perspective or indirectly through the use of colour, tone and composition.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I was inspired by how deeply he ponders his ideas and also the nuance with which he seemed to stumble upon effective works and concepts. In terms of things I can take forward into my own practice it would be the depth of thought and the use of subtle juxtaposition. Both of these are things I already do but his confident use of it shows me I have much more to practice and learn.
I also really like how he made his 1st sculpture and how it was so clearly linked to his paintings but still an object in its own right, and the way he used water to play with the perception of shapes relative to the viewer. His clever, delicate and thoughtful approach is hard to not be drawn in by and the crisp nature of his rendering increases this seductive effect.
He also seemed fascinated with showing some sort of movement or action (implied or otherwise) through a fixed/still painting. For example his piece Off Limits depicts a track saw on a rail that appears to be floating, the soft texture and relentless white place the object in a non-space, with the painted shadows and lighting effects grounding the object in an understandable reality. This effect creates beauty in its intrigue and disarms you from the normal judgement of the recognisable object, which is that it is dangerous and volatile. The paintings may not be the most ambitious or impressive but they are incredibly well thought though and highly effective.
Gales process is interesting to me and I look forward to exploring ideas with this new information, perhaps even make some more traditional paintings after resolving the ideas I am working through now. The rest of the post is just my notes from whilst the talk was going on, I chose to leave them unedited as it shows both his message and my interpretation in one
Egg and Nail – vulnerability and threat, metaphor for life, prick conscious of onlooker.
monument to a physicist – scientists trying to marry their theory to their ideology, represents a crucifixion.
old photograph of woman – symbiosis between her and the Avant-Garde house, wanted to show ephemeral movement in the past tense.
In Season – lemon on a shelf, sense of uncertainty since there is no visible sign of the shelf
gravity pull – Caroline Weissman, sculpture, instability finely balanced equilibrium, metaphor for humans, implies increasing depth, water glasses reversed this depth, attracted a lot of attention
shifting mass – changing light or viewpoint disrupts perfect equilibrium, playing with shadows and light and perception of the spectator
shifting space – intermediate space between the depth and the individual and the middle, the yellow bar interacts with all three layers, playing with the perception of the person and making their movement important. incredible paintings.
shifting policy – living in orwellian society, cctv helmeted creatures watchin us, wall becomes part of the work, challenging the credibility of their initial perception.
shifting decomposition – virtually protected from reality, senses dull, death becomes an image, unfocused into pixels to decompose it complementary colours to create magnetic attention and seduction. pixels suited the subject of langoustine well, they are separated
shifting republic – amused by american flag w/ elephant, banana is derogatory, slightly lewd, shadow suggests movement, flag is transluscent suits subject well.
offset overwide – beauty in noisy dangerous tools, awe, animation from the layers of the panels, double illusion, automatic function, tension between seduction and danger, full relief right across the wall?
one o’clock – question position of the spectator, are you within or without? is it one am or one pm? you choose your own environment. fake shadows interacting with real ones
Beckett – not a random choice, photograph pushed it, interrupted signal from pixels, two stage reduction, needs to be Beckett but also be disrupted, put spectator in the position to make their own connections
challenging the limits of painting, works on the hoof, pulled by painting process, coming out of the wall to go and get the viewer, images relating to the ground are the realm of sculpture
naturally drawn to the image for its own sake, stumbling across something that resonates, do things with that energy and try to mold it, so many of the images come around by fluke, unplanned. searching for the image and inspiration, develop something from that even if it has nothing to do with the original image
Patrick coulfield, Robert reimann, 1617 – etching et sic in infinitum.
