JONATHAN EDWIN SIMPSON
Biography
Simpson graduated with a BFA, Majoring in Sculpture and Installation / Art History from OCAD University in 2014. He was the recipient of Wayne Lum 3rd Year Sculpture Scholarship; the Abraham and Malka Green Sculpture Award; and the ‘Under Cover’ Wearable Art, OCADU.
His work has participated in many exhibitions including ‘Performance with Alex Beriault’ at the Toronto Art Fair; FADO Performance Arts Centre; Hazelton Lanes Arts Festival; Gallery 1313; and the Canadian Sculpture Centre.
He was elected into the SSC in 2014. His studio is based in St Catharines.
Artist Statement
In homage to these natural and prolific forms, I have begun constructing ‘portraits’ of dendrites – derived from the Greek ‘dendron’ meaning tree – extracting samples of fallen limbs and trunks from their respective forests and groves. Transforming into ‘forgotten’ thought structures embedded with text. The first iterations employed a methodology of psychic automatism. A later piece investigates the phenomenon of déjà vu and its entanglement with memory and repetition. The last iteration is a cherry trunk – closer to the roots – delving into the subconscious and dreaming; where I engage in a psychological rendering of a multiplicity dreamscape formed of 17 sessions with various artists, teachers, critics, consultants, and filmmakers. The dreams are intermittent, interrupted by my own responses and musings; paradoxically forming a fictional narrative within the reality of their recollected dream imagery.
