Dreaming in Colour
Simon’s
work moves from compositions inspired by the luminosity
of sweets and candies, stylized and bound within floral
shapes, to that of exultant medieval knights engaged in
chivalrous combat. But it is the triumph of his range,
depth, and use of colour that defines Simon Boyd’s
young and profound painting. If all the work comes from
within, from a personal vision, he nonetheless speaks
to us in a social context, able at the same time to
encompass and scrutinise our own abyss; reinterpreting
the arcane and perennial tales of the conflict between
order and chaos, light and darkness, discipline and
irreverence.
The Being
One of the key characteristics of Simon Boyd’s work (born London,1978) is his unique connection with colour. The pictorial display, with all its physicality, is presented in an exquisite and vibrant manner, allowing us to witness the sensitive movement involved in his approach to painting, both subtle and stripped bare of any excess rationality.
The brushstrokes and use of atmospheric hues, with ardent blues, pinks and light blues, reveal his British art background. He has a fresh and dynamic approach to composition, which makes it possible to affirm the existence of intimate perceptions about the universal symphonies that thread together colour and shape with volume and line. Such a talent places this artist among those who appreciate the awakened vision and who close their eyes to see (Paul Gaughin). And it is not easy to close our eyes. It involves delving into ourselves, gradually forgetting all that exists. Those who awaken to such a journey know that nothing can be kept, and even thought will ultimately be lost.
Paint
One Autumn afternoon, under a burning sun, Simon pronounced to me some words which I felt had a profound Oriental resonance: I want to think less and paint more. I understood some of his images at once: the jousting knights - even the fighting cocks - are, truthfully, the excuse that opens up to us his poetic dialogue with amber, carmine, opaline and magenta; pointing out vocabularies associated with harmony, time, delicacy and subtlety. The lyricism of this corporeal collision intimates unlimited sensitivities that accompany the latent spirituality of the oil and aerosol paintings. The tonal qualities spill out like ghosts urging forth the flotation of the figures, rhythms and concinnity. The very movements of the entities elevate the temperature in each work, registering surreptitious sparkles, incandescent dances, and a perspicacious emergence from the chaos.
Alchemy and Light
The negation of purity is developed to the extent that it mutates and disappears, thereby enabling us to open our senses to the obscure and the nebular. Simon Boyd takes the paint to its very foundations, and cements it under visions as mystic as prophetic; visions where everything seems a dream, maybe a nostalgic memory of childhood games and experiences.
In some of those visions, light appears in streams, as if it were a bright astral ray that bathed entire portions of existence. The image stops in the instant that freezes the process, cools the alchemy and tantalises our imagination. It is from here, from the very roots and primeval essence of these works, that we are subtly connected to old stones painted in caves and shelters. They evoke inner emanations, transporting us to the unfathomable drama of life and death; returning us to Genesis and Apocalypse in one simple instant of intense and spiritual chromatic reverberation.
In the paintings of this English artist, it is the colour more than the sense of the shapes that drives us to an aesthetic ecstasy; enabling us to realise the triumph of beauty over a world saturated with lies, crime and assault. Justice triumphs through the unyielding action of beauty, and beauty cheers to us through the dreams of colour.
One of the key characteristics of Simon Boyd’s work (born London,1978) is his unique connection with colour. The pictorial display, with all its physicality, is presented in an exquisite and vibrant manner, allowing us to witness the sensitive movement involved in his approach to painting, both subtle and stripped bare of any excess rationality.
The brushstrokes and use of atmospheric hues, with ardent blues, pinks and light blues, reveal his British art background. He has a fresh and dynamic approach to composition, which makes it possible to affirm the existence of intimate perceptions about the universal symphonies that thread together colour and shape with volume and line. Such a talent places this artist among those who appreciate the awakened vision and who close their eyes to see (Paul Gaughin). And it is not easy to close our eyes. It involves delving into ourselves, gradually forgetting all that exists. Those who awaken to such a journey know that nothing can be kept, and even thought will ultimately be lost.
Paint
One Autumn afternoon, under a burning sun, Simon pronounced to me some words which I felt had a profound Oriental resonance: I want to think less and paint more. I understood some of his images at once: the jousting knights - even the fighting cocks - are, truthfully, the excuse that opens up to us his poetic dialogue with amber, carmine, opaline and magenta; pointing out vocabularies associated with harmony, time, delicacy and subtlety. The lyricism of this corporeal collision intimates unlimited sensitivities that accompany the latent spirituality of the oil and aerosol paintings. The tonal qualities spill out like ghosts urging forth the flotation of the figures, rhythms and concinnity. The very movements of the entities elevate the temperature in each work, registering surreptitious sparkles, incandescent dances, and a perspicacious emergence from the chaos.
Alchemy and Light
The negation of purity is developed to the extent that it mutates and disappears, thereby enabling us to open our senses to the obscure and the nebular. Simon Boyd takes the paint to its very foundations, and cements it under visions as mystic as prophetic; visions where everything seems a dream, maybe a nostalgic memory of childhood games and experiences.
In some of those visions, light appears in streams, as if it were a bright astral ray that bathed entire portions of existence. The image stops in the instant that freezes the process, cools the alchemy and tantalises our imagination. It is from here, from the very roots and primeval essence of these works, that we are subtly connected to old stones painted in caves and shelters. They evoke inner emanations, transporting us to the unfathomable drama of life and death; returning us to Genesis and Apocalypse in one simple instant of intense and spiritual chromatic reverberation.
In the paintings of this English artist, it is the colour more than the sense of the shapes that drives us to an aesthetic ecstasy; enabling us to realise the triumph of beauty over a world saturated with lies, crime and assault. Justice triumphs through the unyielding action of beauty, and beauty cheers to us through the dreams of colour.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez