Michael Simpson makes large-scale paintings in series that combine numerous important elements on a regular basis. His inspirations include early Flemish painting, as well as minimalism and other formal constraints in his works.
Simpson’s paintings necessitate interaction since they are more concerned with the painting as an object than with depiction.
Simpson’s paintings frequently shift between depiction and abstraction, depth and flatness. The artist’s principal design components are situated in equally compacted settings and reduced to their essential geometry.
Forms appear to be suspended in space and float, yet in other locations things are anchored by light, shadow, and perspective. Similarly, the highly manufactured illusions of some pieces give way to significantly looser representations of the picture in others.
The use of larger-than-life size in several of these pieces gives a strong sense of bodily participation and the sensation that we could truly inhabit these exact yet confusing landscapes. Simpson emphasises the deceptive power of the generated image as much as the mechanics of painting.