Simon Darling

Biography
Simon Darling grew up being exposed to the creative nature of his mother, who was an emerging abstract artist. In a young age he quickly engaged himself in drawing and painting. He’s best known for his deep, obscure and expressive portraits. With multiple awards to his name, he’s represented in private collections all over the world such as Europe, Asia and USA.

Through painting and creating he found his solitude and a way of self-expression while navigating the world of art. Besides being an art school dropout, he’s holding a degree in Architectural technology and design, he has lectured several art classes teaching and debating the fundamentals of artistic philosophy and has been studying advanced psychology and philosophy, which majority of his works resonates with.

He has multiple solo exhibitions to his name, both domestic and internationally. Latest he’s been awarded with the prestigious 'Artist of the Future Award' for the most outstanding and talented artist in the art world along with the 'Power of Creativity' award for creative excellence and recognition of outstanding achievements in innovation and creativity. Furthermore, His works have also been recognized in media and books such as CAS Book Volume lll 2022, CAE Book Volume IV “Contemporary Art of Excellence Book” 2021, 'We Contemporary 2021'.

“Through my paintings, I unite and express the unexplainable, indefinite and confusing emotions, from the obscure realm of imagination.”

Artist Statement
The concept of these works examines the individual and universal interactions found in contemporary portraiture, startling the audience with simplified and distorted forms. The perception of the detailed impulse, with its raw, immediate, and unflinching emotional depth delivering a confusing characteristic visualization. Layered, abstracted marks are added to each layer revealing visceral, emotional intensities and depth.

These works is best described as portraits of complexities of various emotional psychological states highlighted in altered ways, imitating the madness and unknown of everyday life. It is referred to as 'Imitated Pragmatism', defined as 'a realistic representation of that which is not known on surface. These works is portraying and visualizing the unknown and inner psychological and philosophical states of ourselves, in physical form they imitate the pragmatism and or ideology of our thoughts and emotions which comes alive through the visualization.

The works manipulating the viewer to create confusion, as I try to approach a wide scale of subjects in a multi-layered way, I like to involve the viewer in a way that is sometimes physical, emotional and believes in the idea of function following form in a work. With every piece, each work aims to promote a mix of conflicting feelings and thoughts, to get the audience to dig deep and try to understand these feelings. The ideology is personal growth and development; creating a path for the viewer to reach a part of themselves they don't understand. We can never reach our full potential unless we unlock and discover the deepest and darkest corners of our messed-up souls.  

With a subtle pseudo-minimalistic approach, I create several practically identical works, upon which thoughts that have apparently just been developed are manifested: notes are made and then crossed out again, ‘mistakes’ are repeated. This practice provides a set of metaphoric tools for maneuvering with a pseudo-minimalist approach in the sphere of painting: these methodically planned works resound and resonate with visions culled from the deep and dark realm of imagination.

Country Japan

Website www.sdarling-art.com