Studied
Fine Art at both Newport and Cardiff Colleges of Art gaining
a Masters Degree in 1987. Since graduating he has had parallel
careers as an artist and an arts administrator, exhibiting widely
throughout Wales in a variety of galleries and outdoor venues.
He has also played a central role in the development of public
art in Wales through his work with Cywaith Cymru.Artworks Wales.
Over the last seven years he has focused
on the use of light as a key element of his work since his
first major one man show, ‘Groundless’ at Chapter
Arts Centre in 1998. This preoccupation is coupled with a
delight in exploiting everyday objects and materials, using
light to transform the humdrum into the poetic. In 2003 his
show ‘Light Works’ at the University of Wales
Institute Cardiff played on the familiar elements of building,
with works that challenged our preconceptions about the solidity
of materials with a fluid floor and a see through brick wall.
His latest show ‘Another Light’ at the Glynn
Vivian Museum in Swansea 2006, continued the theme with three
installations that toyed with our perceptions of light and
space with works that occupied the walls, floor and the space
in between.
Now working freelance as an artist and
part time lecturer, he is concentrating on the development
of new work having been awarded a Creative Wales Award by
the Arts Council of Wales for his project ‘Looking for
Darkness’. As an extension of the gallery based work,
Simon is exploring some of Wales’ subterranean spaces:
caves, tunnels and mines, making a record of places that are
naturally dark and culminating in a series of light works
underground.
