Rhonda Dredge
It’s difficult for an artist to write about his own practice in the clunky medium of words.
Yarraville artist Matthew Simpson has been painting in oils for more than 30 years.
His approach is philosophical and fluid.
Paintings are built up by the repetitive addition of line, quite loose, and differing in shape.
“I want to be surprised by the outcome,” he said, and it’s this discipline of forgetfulness that is at the heart of his practice.
Last year was a major coming out for Simpson with two solo exhibitions within months of each other.
Chance Paintings at One Star Gallery in May was an exhibition of recent work while Time Paintings at No Vacancy in July was a retrospective.
This year the exhibition schedule continues with a solo show titled Arbitrary Paintings at One Star Gallery.
This show is of purely abstract, interior works that rely on their poetics of mark-making.
“I’ll find the concepts that work out of the marks and process,” said Simpson and that of timelessness is a clever take on the more frenzied output of influences such as Jackson
Pollock.
Those who find pleasure in painting will enjoy Simpson’s take on a crowded field of abstraction.
His paintings are distinctive.
Brice Marden deals with similar problems but his results are different. Cy Twombly and Ian Fairweather also used lines.
You can lose yourself in the foliage of Simpson’s mark-making as the visual makes itself known in pure line.
Arbitrary Painting runs from May 1 to 18 at One Star Lounge and Gallery, 301 – 303 Victoria St, West Melbourne.
