SIMEON STAFFORD
Simeon Stafford’s gripping and memorable paintings are a complex hybrid containing personal symbolism, cryptic autobiographical themes and a pronounced, affectionate feeling for the soul of public life. His unforgettable images stay in the mind like a catchy tune and are the vivid and colourful outpourings of a genuine artist unafraid to juggle implausible fantasy, dream, surreal distortion, heightened realism and celebration of the simple pleasures of everyday life. Mundane ritual and workaday routine are elevated through strong colour, bold composition and generosity of thick paint handling so that the painter himself, an unpretentious artisan taking his place in the community alongside the baker, beach attendant, barber, bus driver or shopkeeper, becomes as much social visionary as visual poet.

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