8.3.14 - 3.6.14
Simon Bill ‘Lucky Jim’
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
by Rachel mcdermott
Simon Bill’s ‘Lucky Jim’ is the first to open of BALTIC’s Spring Season of Exhibitions. His largest UK Solo Exhibition to date, it consists of over thirty paintings made between 1999 and 2014.
Bill’s work is known for having no signature style, and using a wide variety of art and non-art media. Channelling the aesthetics of art history, as well as referencing popular culture and philosophy, the (only) common ground within this body of works is the shape and size of the paintings: they are all oval. Associated more closely with decorative arts than fine arts, the oval is a less common frame of choice to a painter. Bill though, seems unbiased by the conventions of painting, as in many of his works he sees fit to reinvent the rules of this practice.
In Milk Churns (2007), Bill uses oil with glitter, polystyrene and marker pen. An abstract colour wheel meets a 1970’s disco; this visual bombardment is so crude that it is somehow captivating. His cutting of corners actually becomes ironic, as his version of working the picture plane entails physically gouging out sections of the frame. His palette appears raw and unmixed, and the blending of the colours is murky. Bill breaks all the rules.
Bill’s work is known for having no signature style, and using a wide variety of art and non-art media. Channelling the aesthetics of art history, as well as referencing popular culture and philosophy, the (only) common ground within this body of works is the shape and size of the paintings: they are all oval. Associated more closely with decorative arts than fine arts, the oval is a less common frame of choice to a painter. Bill though, seems unbiased by the conventions of painting, as in many of his works he sees fit to reinvent the rules of this practice.
In Milk Churns (2007), Bill uses oil with glitter, polystyrene and marker pen. An abstract colour wheel meets a 1970’s disco; this visual bombardment is so crude that it is somehow captivating. His cutting of corners actually becomes ironic, as his version of working the picture plane entails physically gouging out sections of the frame. His palette appears raw and unmixed, and the blending of the colours is murky. Bill breaks all the rules.
In another work, titled From the Netherlands (2002), DIY materials such as silicone and styrofoam have been used to create a naïve graphic of an alien like form, which sits atop a thick blue ground. Whilst another, titled Hang The Kaiser (2007) is a Cubist style oil painting portraying a WW1 German helmet floating on a green ground.
Also a comic novelist, Bill’s works often have humorous or cryptic titles, such as Canadian Pregnancies (2010), and We know now, We now know (2010). These titles are often nonsensical, leading the viewer to nowhere but further questioning.
Currently undertaking a PhD in Neuroscience, Bill’s interest in cognitive understanding and misunderstanding is emphasised in his repetitive use of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s ‘Duck/Rabbit’ symbol. Appearing in two sculptural works and one painting, this symbol appears simultaneously as a duck and a rabbit, emphasising distinctively different ways of seeing.
Simon Bill seems to stand squarely, or rather ‘ovally,’ in the way of continuity. Going far beyond the expanded field, his works are stylistically diverse exercises in defying the conventions of painting. His idiosyncratic titles and rough finishes seem to tie in with his background as a comic novelist, and lead to the question of whether the exhibition itself is in fact a parody of a painting exhibition. Perhaps it is like Wittgenstein’s ‘duck/rabbit,’ simultaneously earnest and a parody?
Rachel McDermott is an Artist and Writer based in Newcastle upon Tyne
http://rachelmcdermott.weebly.com/
Also a comic novelist, Bill’s works often have humorous or cryptic titles, such as Canadian Pregnancies (2010), and We know now, We now know (2010). These titles are often nonsensical, leading the viewer to nowhere but further questioning.
Currently undertaking a PhD in Neuroscience, Bill’s interest in cognitive understanding and misunderstanding is emphasised in his repetitive use of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s ‘Duck/Rabbit’ symbol. Appearing in two sculptural works and one painting, this symbol appears simultaneously as a duck and a rabbit, emphasising distinctively different ways of seeing.
Simon Bill seems to stand squarely, or rather ‘ovally,’ in the way of continuity. Going far beyond the expanded field, his works are stylistically diverse exercises in defying the conventions of painting. His idiosyncratic titles and rough finishes seem to tie in with his background as a comic novelist, and lead to the question of whether the exhibition itself is in fact a parody of a painting exhibition. Perhaps it is like Wittgenstein’s ‘duck/rabbit,’ simultaneously earnest and a parody?
Rachel McDermott is an Artist and Writer based in Newcastle upon Tyne
http://rachelmcdermott.weebly.com/