Michael Simpson: Drawing towards Painting
Modern Art is pleased to present Drawing towards Painting: Selected Drawings 1974-2024, Michael Simpson鈥檚 second solo exhibition with the gallery. Widely renowned for his paintings, this exhibition examines the breadth of his drawing practice. Drawing is a daily practice for Simpson, commonly he鈥檒l close out the day drawing. With materials such as carbon pencil, French chalk, Indian ink, gouache and oil paint, he draws on surfaces close to hand, from restaurant napkins, discarded cardboard, end papers to book covers 鈥� such choices make clear the instinctive drive of this aspect of his practice. Each differs significantly, encompassing examples rendered with economy and speed to more graphic drawings, akin to architectural plans. Like his paintings, his drawings depict a small selection of repeated forms, especially confessionals, benches, ladders and leper squints.
For this exhibition, Simpson has selected drawings from a much larger archive and ongoing body of work. Notable throughout his drawing practice is the use of cursive handwriting, as well as annotation and personal notes that make clear his thought process when constructing an image. As David Risley notes in the exhibition book, Simpson鈥檚 drawings are 鈥渨orking drawings, thinking with the hand: problem solving, notes to self, visual reminders - purely functional鈥�. The drawings are emphatically material things, made of physical matter. Past painting series such as the Burning of the books are present as spectral remainders of the resulting paintings that were destroyed, giving these drawings greater potency while forming an archive of sorts. Like his paintings, his drawings have the same concern for problem solving, rendering the same form in variations, to refine and enhance, to get closer to the desired image he imagines in his mind. The drawings offer a gateway into how the paintings emerge, and more specifically the symbiotic relationship between his drawings and paintings. Possessing a similar power to his paintings 鈥� drawing plays a key part in his ongoing examination of the mechanics of painting.
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Modern Art is pleased to present Drawing towards Painting: Selected Drawings 1974-2024, Michael Simpson鈥檚 second solo exhibition with the gallery. Widely renowned for his paintings, this exhibition examines the breadth of his drawing practice. Drawing is a daily practice for Simpson, commonly he鈥檒l close out the day drawing. With materials such as carbon pencil, French chalk, Indian ink, gouache and oil paint, he draws on surfaces close to hand, from restaurant napkins, discarded cardboard, end papers to book covers 鈥� such choices make clear the instinctive drive of this aspect of his practice. Each differs significantly, encompassing examples rendered with economy and speed to more graphic drawings, akin to architectural plans. Like his paintings, his drawings depict a small selection of repeated forms, especially confessionals, benches, ladders and leper squints.
For this exhibition, Simpson has selected drawings from a much larger archive and ongoing body of work. Notable throughout his drawing practice is the use of cursive handwriting, as well as annotation and personal notes that make clear his thought process when constructing an image. As David Risley notes in the exhibition book, Simpson鈥檚 drawings are 鈥渨orking drawings, thinking with the hand: problem solving, notes to self, visual reminders - purely functional鈥�. The drawings are emphatically material things, made of physical matter. Past painting series such as the Burning of the books are present as spectral remainders of the resulting paintings that were destroyed, giving these drawings greater potency while forming an archive of sorts. Like his paintings, his drawings have the same concern for problem solving, rendering the same form in variations, to refine and enhance, to get closer to the desired image he imagines in his mind. The drawings offer a gateway into how the paintings emerge, and more specifically the symbiotic relationship between his drawings and paintings. Possessing a similar power to his paintings 鈥� drawing plays a key part in his ongoing examination of the mechanics of painting.
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Modern Art is presenting Drawing towards Painting: Selected Drawings 1974-2024, Michael Simpson鈥檚 second solo exhibition with the gallery.
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