Simon Gales

Simon Gales (born 1964) is a contemporary British artist and painter of limited output who destroys much of his work. He exhibits mainly in London and France.

Life and work

Simon Gales was born in Polstead, Suffolk in 1964. He studied art at Goldsmiths College under Jon Thompson and achieved the joint highest mark graduating alongside Gary Hume and Ian Davenport in the YBA year of 1988.[1] The following year he was selected as one of 25 'Christies New Contemporaries' that included Mark Francis and Glenn Brown in a highly publicised show at the Royal College of Art where six works from his degree show were to be auctioned by Christie's in what was to be the first auction of young contemporary artists by a major auction house.[2] The show attracted media attention and his work was featured in the Telegraph Weekend Colour Supplement as well as the BBC 1 O'Clock News;[3][4] the auction surpassed expectations making £500,000 with Gales's selling for over four times the estimate.[5] This led him to be commissioned by London Transport for which he painted Childhood a painting London Underground used to publicise the V&A Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green. 6,000 full sized posters were printed for underground stations with a further 3,000 smaller ones for the escalators.[6]

Gales's early metaphysical works incited him to be included in a number of largely conceptual exhibitions such as A Spiritual Dimension in 1989, a major touring exhibition organised by Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery along with former Goldsmiths tutors Brian Falconbridge, Michael Kenny and Carl Plackman and including Craigie Aitchison, Tess Jaray and Bob Law and supported by works from the Arts Council Collection as well as that of the Royal Academy.[7] Due to the small scale of Gales’s works at this time, he was invited again from 1991-1992 to show with Craigie Aitchison in another touring exhibition which was curated by Gillian Jason called Cabinet Paintings which also included Frank Auerbach, Howard Hodgkin, Euan Uglow and Sarah Raphael.

Gales had a series of solo and joint exhibitions notably at the Jill George Gallery in 1990 and later at The Bruton Street Gallery, London in 1999, 2001 which sold out and again in 2003 at which point the gallery closed down.

Gales's interest in metaphysics was due to the influence of initial tutorials with Jon Thompson at Goldsmiths, particularly in regards to the role of intuition. "He put into my head that an extra dimension could be explored beneath the surface of a subject."[8] This resulted in a long series of metaphysical paintings that have more recently undergone some radical changes from spare, singular, kinetic images of varying focus through to carefully designed minimal works bordering on abstraction. These latter pieces are often painted on rectangular panels, the smaller one attached as if floating in front of the larger, casting real shadows that constantly change according to the light. These shadows interplay with the painted image so that the painting becomes a physical reality in the space of the spectator.[9]

Description of his works

... A single colour that continues from the first panel onto the one behind, a step down of no more than half a centimetre, can be of a different light or tone purely as a result of a slight difference in distance from the eye so that the work becomes, in varying degrees, kinetic

He talks about his fascination with greys that is evident in the scull painting.

Banal colours such as digital greys can be sublime and there is something so 21st century about them, very minimal, very contemporary, hence my reluctance to use any shade that resembles black.

[10]

List of exhibitions

Solo Exhibition Summary
  • 2014 De Goldsmiths à Aujourd’hui – Espace Ap-Art, Perigueux, France
  • 2003 Simon Gales, The Bruton Street Gallery, London
  • 2001 Simon Gales, The Bruton Street Gallery, London
  • 1999 Simon Gales, The Bruton Street Gallery, London
  • 1990 Suspending The Time (with Brian Falconbridge) Jill George Gallery, London

Group Exhibition Summary
  • 2014 Invitation for 3 Work Installation, Orwell Park, Nacton, Suffolk
  • 2008 Quatre Artistes, 6 work installation, Chateau d’Excideuil, France
  • 1998 Selected works, (OW& Co Fine Art), Gallery 27, Cork Street, London
  • 1997 A New Beginning, Offer Waterman & Co., London
  • 1996 Ten British Artists Exhibition, Waterman Fine Art, London
  • 1992 Cabinet Paintings – Hove Museum & Art Gallery, Sussex; The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery & Museum, Swansea Wales
  • 1991 Modern Art Since 1945, Christie's, London; Cabinet Paintings – Gillian Jason Gallery, London
  • 1990 A Spiritual Dimension – Wolsey Gallery, Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, The Arts Council; A Spiritual Dimension – Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, The Arts Council

References
  1. Art Trade Press,Gale Group (2002). Who's Who in Art (30th ed.). Hilmarton Manor Press. ISBN 978-0-900083-19-8.
  2. Christie's (1989). Christie's New Contemporaries (Open Library,catalogue ed.). Christie's. OL 18772989M.
  3. Burroughs, Andrew."New Art, Christie's". BBC 1 O'Clock News, 1989, 9, 3.
  4. Cork, Richard. "Collecting : New Art Goes Under The Hammer". The Daily Telegraph Weekend Magazine,1989, 11, 3.
  5. Norman, Geraldine. "Art Market: An Experimental Sale.." The Independent,1989, 16, 3.
  6. Simon Gales (1990). "Childhood". London Transport Museum Collection.
  7. A Spiritual Dimension. Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery. 1989. ISBN 0905248015.
  8. Turps Banana Art Magazine 'Simon Gales a rush hour conversation with Turps Banana' (Issue 16) Spring 2016 ISSN 1749-3994.
  9. Turps Banana Art Magazine 'Simon Gales a rush hour conversation with Turps Banana' (Issue 16) Spring 2016 ISSN 1749-3994.
  10. Turps Banana Painting Magazine. Marcus Harvey & Phil King. 2016. ISSN 1749-3994.
  11. Dr August K Wiedmann 'A Spiritual Dimension' published by Peterborough City Council 1989 ISBN 0905248015.
  12. "A Spiritual Dimension". Peterborough City Council. 1989.
  13. "A Spiritual Dimension". Visual Arts Ipswich. 1990. Archived from the original on 2007-08-05.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. Cabinet Paintings. Gillian Jason Gallery. 1990. OCLC 272556890.
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