 This exhibition celebrates the work of artist Simeon Stafford, born in Dukinfield (a small northern town bordering the Pennines). Stafford relocated to Cornwall in 1996. At the of age of 14 Stafford met L.S Lowry who encouraged him to paint. Lowry became a family friend and remains a constant source of inspiration to Stafford. Simeon’s work is not ‘heavy,’ we see no dark overcast days, political content or deep soul searching angst. He says ‘we have enough that in the world of news today.’ No, Stafford’s world of pictorial imagery is a world of humour and fun, an essence of spontaneity that is joyfully translated to the viewer. Simeon Stafford is an observer of life, his paintings are crammed full of incidents and accidents, bustling scenes of human interaction, a happy dialogue of work and play. If his paintings are studied you will discover figures re-occurring, skipping Ruby with pig-tails, Eric and his tractor, Dot, the little girl cart-wheeling across the canvas (his aunt as a child) sometimes a man with red stripy trousers marching through a crowd, leading a small boy by the hand, (the artist with his son). These figures are bought to life and become characters’ to look out for. Locations become a fusion of the artist’s actual environment, subtly mixed with snippets of landmarks from his past, creating his distinctive style. Stafford’s subjects include docks and their workers, holiday seaside scenes and streets crammed with children playing. There is a nostalgic echo to these paintings that each and every one of us can identify with, an essence that captures the excitement and expectation, of any old day seen through a child’s eyes. These paintings nourish the child within us all. Simeon has had exhibitions throughout the country as well as Cornwall, in London he is represented by Oliver Contemporary. He has had paintings in the Royal Academy Summer Show and his work is in numerous private collections including Her Majesty The Queen and Tony Blair. |
