Craig Simpson
I was excited when I first laid eyes on Craig’s work, his combination of humour and convention in his abstract compositions, of people doing very ordinary things is both unique and compelling. He creates a world with some of his paintings being self-portraits, that glimpse into a view point, portraying a tongue-in-cheek nuance of the everyday. His artworks hit a nerve of that specialness about the mundane. The things we take for granted in our daily lives, like peeling a potato or brushing your teeth. He has this unusual, ability to accentuate these things with such a sense of observation of the surroundings and the elements of the house and home and nuances of all that is comforting. His painting technique and compositions incorporate the commonality of a traditional oil painting in almost a prudent manner, but with a completely authentic perspective, engaging the viewer to all obscurities of traditions. These figurative paintings, hold your attention in muted shades of ordinariness, that encompass the special and the unique of our ordinary, no matter how or what our class, background or culture. Then at the same time with an overwhelming irony, like a twinkle in your eye, they stand out, as the paintings hold an intensive eye contact of communication with the viewer.
The first thing Craig tells me when we first meet is, “I never studied art,” he did art GCSE but was told to just get on with it, although he recalls making things as a kid. “His main thing was music,” he tells me. His craftsmanship and compositions are phenomenal, so I was surprised, that he is self-taught. I asked Craig how he learnt to paint, and again he surprised me, he never watched a YouTube video, never learnt or read about how to paint, “I am quite stubborn when it comes to doing something” Craig tells me. Instead, he visited art galleries, and that is how he learnt, he describes how he would just stand in front of a painting for half an hour and study the painting in detail. He would travel to London and visit as many museums and art galleries in one day.
All of Craig’s paintings are oil on canvas, and with this deliberate choice of muted colours “I very rarely use white” he tells me, and the choice of parchment and a matt finish and no gloss, each painting taking 3-4 weeks. He additionally makes his own hardwood frames, working 10-12 hours a day painting, describing himself as more of a morning person. He gets up and starts painting straight away, he doesn’t dawdle and then goes for long walks where he doesn’t bump into people, sometimes waiting for it to rain so he can walk alone in peace, and then on occasion he will have a week of doing nothing. Although he tells me he does work well under a deadline.
He lists his favourite artists, first up is Lucian Freud and then Paula Rego, Stanley Spencer and Duncan Grant painting everyday things, “I find that so interesting” he tells me. He was a bit obsessed with the Bloomsbury Group, Craig admits to me, describing the Charleston Farmhouse, in East Sussex, as his favourite place. He studies their work to see how they painted, and although he never tries to imitate another, a snippet of one painting may inspire him to do something of his own if it’s the idea he really likes or a particular colour. He collects these inspirations and puts them together.
Born and raised in Manchester, Craig opens up about being a very anxious person and how he had a terrible time growing up, he had no friends, he felt he was always the black sheep and feeling different, although he is close to his sister he tells me, describing her as more outgoing. He studied A-level music and wanted to pursue a career with it. However the theory didn’t interest him, and he aimed to be a performance musician. His A-level music was very classical based, with a four-year course, and some sessions playing on guitar. He describes being called stubborn as he had his own ideas. He ended up in Brighton on his 19th Birthday and made it his home for the next few years. He was DJ-ing the circuit for a while, he explains in the pursuit of doing something creative, and then decided to start painting out of the blue. He began painting self-portraits and needed to do it on his own so that no one could interfere with it. “I loved it” Craig exclaims, that was nearly 10 years ago and he became really wrapped in to it, “It was something I needed to do on the side”. He had a full-time job, working in a trendy shop, in the stockroom. He never really enjoyed dealing with people, but worked five days and additionally a part-time job for a 1960s clothing company, the customers were more like-minded, and “it felt more like talking to friends” he tells me. He was never into fast fashion and still doesn’t even have a television. But, he would get back home from work and immediately start painting his portraits of people around the area in vintage clothing.
A friend let Craig hold an exhibition in his salon, he had loads of easels up and had sales, he additionally started to get commissions, describing it as quite a nervous thing to do, paint a commission of someone else. He tries not to do commissions anymore as he would get so nervous. However, he recalls, that when he showed the painting to his client, how great it was seeing their reaction. He started jazz paintings of jazz musicians and that’s when he started selling paintings, although Craig explains how feels he wasn’t painting well at that time, he feels he was just copying. Then when lockdown happened it all changed for Craig, he couldn’t meet up with people, he was furloughed from work, so still receiving a salary, and it was perfect he could paint all the time.
We chat about his parents and their support of his career as an artist,” They are very supportive” he tells me, “they always said let him enjoy what he is doing” Craig explains, and then he pauses for a second “They were a bit worried to begin with, as it’s such a difficult world to earn a living from”. We chat about his move away from Brighton, his plan was to buy a narrow boat and travel the country, however, he chose to go back home to Manchester. He had no galleries representing him, Craig describes to me how he sent a handful of emails to galleries within the vicinity, showing images of his new painting style. The owner and art dealer of Castlegate Gallery came to visit him in the spare bedroom, travelling from the Lake District. He had some more work to do and gave Castlegate a couple of paintings for the London Art Fair, and all were sold within a week. Although he loves living in solitude, he does see that there is a sacrifice to any creative job, he doesn’t want to be conventional but again as an artist, it’s also about being remembered. Narrative within his work is important to him, and when I ask what he considers his greatest achievement so far, he tells me it is being able to paint full-time. He is working on his first solo show, for next year at the Castlegate Gallery, and he is painting 20 pieces for that show.
As we ended our conversation, I asked Craig if he could have any painting what would it be? “Lucian Freud with the dog, or The Resurrection by Stanley Spencer,” he tells me.
Interview: Antoinette Haselhorst
