tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-199076022024-03-12T19:05:39.954-04:00Monkey FurSamantha Simpson's Art BlogSam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-76922810611039051202021-03-24T13:03:00.000-04:002021-03-24T13:03:33.759-04:00Saga 5<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVz057yLXjl3RApEaoCwAtlhvgQVc77fLb1Z5uZx9sGTzvNxg5ECfjD1_ZcEHJUVxOyx4k1AfEBU0tCJgaV-CHKYXn8PAQ8hGjucN0Xd47TT9M80lOU86nOA7RAgqLunjeyTW1/s1024/saga+5+overall+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="1024" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVz057yLXjl3RApEaoCwAtlhvgQVc77fLb1Z5uZx9sGTzvNxg5ECfjD1_ZcEHJUVxOyx4k1AfEBU0tCJgaV-CHKYXn8PAQ8hGjucN0Xd47TT9M80lOU86nOA7RAgqLunjeyTW1/w640-h346/saga+5+overall+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><p>I just finished <i>Saga 5</i>, and it's been a long time coming. This one is about the pandemic. I started it last spring when magnolias and cherry blossoms were blooming all over Philadelphia and we were becoming aware of an airborne virus. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjLgzlml2-Nuoy4hUEPVbiXizJxhMXAX6JtV7ZPE2LZ3bMGxtTEv10MfYW92yzot-niCNy8cFXYmF0nb4qyT_jhH7LmWT9DIsmjG1roAp331JZ65ZNW45td9_tqD5fMCU0R_HL/s1024/saga+5+wavdet+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1024" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjLgzlml2-Nuoy4hUEPVbiXizJxhMXAX6JtV7ZPE2LZ3bMGxtTEv10MfYW92yzot-niCNy8cFXYmF0nb4qyT_jhH7LmWT9DIsmjG1roAp331JZ65ZNW45td9_tqD5fMCU0R_HL/w640-h426/saga+5+wavdet+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">For a lot of the time during the last year I didn't feel like I could work on this painting. I made about this much of it (above) and then stopped for a while. I'd occasionally paint in one of the bubbles, but often I was too overwhelmed to paint. My show at the Rosewood Art Centre was postponed, my nerves were shot, and I found it most helpful to dive into new media. I've acquired lots of new technical skills that have pushed my art to some interesting new places, but this painting languished for a while.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7U2m-r9t0HaaYrZrvuBP9sUzniTpenIVJXWBOYiJ_Wt5wKWnjhm19kNtFrw8kW-391-FUtuv9PG7yCXdnfS3d0FZJqW4tgwOyAIy9lksschDuqD6Wpl44APUPH7GcfiS63Eo/s1024/saga+5+fbubblesdet+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="1024" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge7U2m-r9t0HaaYrZrvuBP9sUzniTpenIVJXWBOYiJ_Wt5wKWnjhm19kNtFrw8kW-391-FUtuv9PG7yCXdnfS3d0FZJqW4tgwOyAIy9lksschDuqD6Wpl44APUPH7GcfiS63Eo/w640-h412/saga+5+fbubblesdet+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">The wave is full of bubbles, swimmers, bodies and ghosts. All the bubbles show some aspect of pandemic life, and almost all feature computer screens. The top bubble in the image above is a riff on Degas'<a href="https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/82556.html?mulR=1592684938|6" target="_blank"> Interior</a> , which is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-4LqKo1WLaY4wZKsCHu7aI8Zt2_RfKpxSXU9HLgdAZE43bk3a7UXeNlLAtFgyICXs3bGssRIN3DgRw2boNi_EqkzcVn_Zpx6YU10YMa3TFtoY3C45O1gt8jvPTB93FPMymoX/s1024/saga+5+fbubblesbigdet-1+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="1024" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-4LqKo1WLaY4wZKsCHu7aI8Zt2_RfKpxSXU9HLgdAZE43bk3a7UXeNlLAtFgyICXs3bGssRIN3DgRw2boNi_EqkzcVn_Zpx6YU10YMa3TFtoY3C45O1gt8jvPTB93FPMymoX/w640-h418/saga+5+fbubblesbigdet-1+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There are some personal moments in the bubbles, too. I'm the frog in the pink sweatshirt who is teaching online, and my son is the bored kid doing online learning in the top left. There are also more than a few references to the protests, as well as sourdough, yoga, essential workers and scenes based on artists and families who I know. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Once the vaccine started to feel like a real possibility I started painting again, and this week, one vaccination down, I finished it. </p><p style="text-align: left;"> The flying businessmen are back. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlc7CZBCjFy_AUSYAryck0zBDTw90sITAoWe-wPqQzICIKE_oups_iWmM4Eond1z8JsuyRknv8DLw3r7J5gcs2-KaXZHtxFvuMakRYUKjzWmuxYNrljSjO5JLOzv0F_1_ohjMx/s1024/saga+5+businessflyersdet+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="1024" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlc7CZBCjFy_AUSYAryck0zBDTw90sITAoWe-wPqQzICIKE_oups_iWmM4Eond1z8JsuyRknv8DLw3r7J5gcs2-KaXZHtxFvuMakRYUKjzWmuxYNrljSjO5JLOzv0F_1_ohjMx/w640-h412/saga+5+businessflyersdet+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They are excited about these guys, who are based on the thugs who invaded the capitol and their supporters & enablers. (I've tried to paint Trump in several of these pieces, but I'm really allergic to his face, and this is the closest I could come; his mouth is yelling on the top left. )</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvVsK99Xl0tnfJE_l2GGxT3vXAj4eqjCJ1U2qpCTJaiXApWeom9NZ0vZ2pgOehgjtQGs93mn7ZwB7-cwkX5sDLuF3EtWGCOQ7X3ieJXmma9_yfaX6DE9pGoG2bL3JOsDCiO2bQ/s1024/saga+5+thugsdet+copy.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1024" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvVsK99Xl0tnfJE_l2GGxT3vXAj4eqjCJ1U2qpCTJaiXApWeom9NZ0vZ2pgOehgjtQGs93mn7ZwB7-cwkX5sDLuF3EtWGCOQ7X3ieJXmma9_yfaX6DE9pGoG2bL3JOsDCiO2bQ/w640-h426/saga+5+thugsdet+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">Below them are these frogs, who show up in several other paintings. I was thinking about the protests, and the election, and the people who fought so hard to hang on to our democratic processes. This part is directly based on <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metmuseum.org%2Fart%2Fcollection%2Fsearch%2F11417&psig=AOvVaw2_b7B0FhXUckLvh0uZBPUu&ust=1616687732653000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIjqsqOlye8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD" target="_blank">Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware</a> . The long banner that wraps around the characters would say Black Lives Matter if it were stretched out.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHyHlu8gpNEtrFI5ovt3tjKdzJVXAwLk-G7D0F4uPp7NTk_cGCs1xOMB-fSf30gQHe4lwcPBiClXoJ8ifFEzEhRwU1hNg50QFCuxcC1H6yJk6jjlqx03q6C-q_mzcd5SjMOnKX/s1024/saga+5+froggingtoncrossingdeldet+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1024" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHyHlu8gpNEtrFI5ovt3tjKdzJVXAwLk-G7D0F4uPp7NTk_cGCs1xOMB-fSf30gQHe4lwcPBiClXoJ8ifFEzEhRwU1hNg50QFCuxcC1H6yJk6jjlqx03q6C-q_mzcd5SjMOnKX/w640-h426/saga+5+froggingtoncrossingdeldet+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You can see these pieces larger on my website and pretty soon they will be on view in person, which is super exciting. They're going to the Rosewood Art Center in Kettering Ohio from April 12- May 14th. I can't wait to see them all in one room.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p></div>Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-57233168168901192122020-04-04T19:27:00.002-04:002020-05-04T11:00:03.394-04:00Saga 4I just got <i>Saga 4</i> posted on the website, and I couldn't be prouder. I'm noticing that each piece I make gets more tricky than the last one.<br />
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I want these Saga pieces to work together cumulatively, so I spend a lot of time at the beginning of each piece making sure that the left edge of the piece lines up with the right edge of the previous one. I think of them as big frames in a comic strip: they are meant to be read from left to right, and to form full compositions on the wall: so when I had three Saga pieces, like in the show at the Firehouse Art Center (see previous post), I cared that the composition worked as a triptych, and the right edge of the third piece balanced out the left edge of of the first one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvOwyGjmZHxxwV0fLQfY1iV0D-9QGZe0RNAQPrga5fMH7l8hoys6ktiDvgmLP1YSXWUy6ZPmA1kX8XXxPwldsMEmU15XCN-t8HGLyP8aRXrIt3eQ_SqD4BbPTZ42hewod9TuMl/s1600/sagas1234together1000px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="145" data-original-width="1000" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvOwyGjmZHxxwV0fLQfY1iV0D-9QGZe0RNAQPrga5fMH7l8hoys6ktiDvgmLP1YSXWUy6ZPmA1kX8XXxPwldsMEmU15XCN-t8HGLyP8aRXrIt3eQ_SqD4BbPTZ42hewod9TuMl/s640/sagas1234together1000px.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Samantha Simpson <i>Saga 1-4</i>, Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 2017-2020)</span></div>
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In <i>Saga 4</i> I wanted a radically different sense of space: the close up water in <i>Saga 3</i> had to become a distant cliff edge in <i>Saga 4,</i> but the pieces had to look like they were meant to go together at the seams.<br />
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I set this all up at the beginning of the piece when I make the drawings, but each piece takes a long time to paint. Saga 4 was no exception. I started <i>Saga 4</i> in the summer of 2019 and I just finished it in March of 2020. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that I worried about whether or not it would match up with Saga 3 every time I worked on it.<br />
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I never really know if they're going to sit well together until I finish. I move the pieces off my working wall and put them next to the previous piece. My studio is big enough to show two at a time, so I have to trust that they will work out until I see them together. What made this transition particularly tricky is that <i>Saga 3</i> is a closeup: it's a take on Monet's water lillies. I want <i>Saga 3</i> to read as a time of relative leisure before <i>Saga 4</i>'s heightened concerns. <br />
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Below is a closeup of <i>Saga 3 </i> and <i>Saga 4:</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQnom5eOTEUo9OeGd4Ip9VhfCGyjyzIBkg3SUcGk7p4otNXycf0s7dlggEHZTUM9kXU7YQWUfdpBe-uaBf9eCJCYE4i-7fnQB6OD_4EmJkrgTG2rmo20PeiukLvLeOgZxdRoq/s1600/saga3and4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="1041" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQnom5eOTEUo9OeGd4Ip9VhfCGyjyzIBkg3SUcGk7p4otNXycf0s7dlggEHZTUM9kXU7YQWUfdpBe-uaBf9eCJCYE4i-7fnQB6OD_4EmJkrgTG2rmo20PeiukLvLeOgZxdRoq/s640/saga3and4.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Samantha Simpson </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Saga 3 and 4</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">,</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 2019-2020)</span></span></div>
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<i>Saga 4 </i>is below<i>. </i>It's an eight foot long piece, so there's a lot you might want to see in more detail. There's a wall being built, executive-graph bugs, a two headed goose and a human child with a plastic lightsaber. There's a nice big version on <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/saga4_huge.html" target="_blank">my website here</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu8u9cTEAfn89jHMuQAUaN0u9rUEAYYMeevsq9hGRUTTC_krGqr2QufLGUINqjF9kzf2Guv5UsFfUMG3paZTJzgXL_0ssvZJkqL-fGAPW4urSj7Udm-o3ptkFdip3C3sx9WiZr/s1600/Saga+4+overall_good+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="720" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu8u9cTEAfn89jHMuQAUaN0u9rUEAYYMeevsq9hGRUTTC_krGqr2QufLGUINqjF9kzf2Guv5UsFfUMG3paZTJzgXL_0ssvZJkqL-fGAPW4urSj7Udm-o3ptkFdip3C3sx9WiZr/s640/Saga+4+overall_good+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Samantha Simpson, <i>Saga 4, </i>Ink and watercolor on paper, 91.5" x 51", 2020</span></div>
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I was getting ready to ship these out to the Rosewood Art Center in Kettering Ohio for a show this spring, but it's delayed until next year. I'm looking forward to it, but in the meantime I'm staying inside, staying safe, and I hope you are too..
Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-84924893641901645752019-08-08T18:30:00.001-04:002019-08-08T18:30:49.822-04:00Interesting TimesI am chuffed. The news is terrible right now and the air in Philadelphia feels like wet sock, but yesterday evening the Firehouse Art Center posted this little video and ever since then I have had a very specific kind of happiness blooming in my heart that is pretty much summed up by that great British understatement of a word.<br />
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Here it is. The pieces shown are from my Saga Series, and they are part of their <i>Interesting Times</i> exhibition.<br />
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This video thrills me largely because there are three pieces on that wall. I paint these pieces so that when they are hung end to end they flow together. I carefully make sure that the colors in left edge of each new piece line up exactly with the right edge of the last one, but I can only hang two of them at a time in my studio, so I've actually never seen them all in a row before. They work just like I'd hoped, and I couldn't be happier to see how beautifully they were installed.<br />
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I'm also delighted to see them out in the world. These pieces take a long time, and although I've shown them to people in my studio, this exhibition is their first. The curator, Brandy Coons, did a great job of picking the other artists in the exhibit. <a href="https://kathrynjilljohnson.com/home.html" target="_blank">Kathryn Jill Johnson</a> and <a href="https://www.robinhextrum.com/" target="_blank">Robin Hextrum</a> both make wonderful work. If you're in the Boulder area, check it out!<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/images/Interesting-Times.jpg" width="100%" />
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I've written in past blog posts about Saga 1 and 2, but I didn't have time to post about Saga 3. <br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/artworkimagesforsplash/2048%20images/saga3overall.jpg" width="100%" /><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Samantha Simpson, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Saga 3, </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Ink and watercolor on paper, 92" x 51", 2018</span><br />
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There is a lot happening in this piece and you can see details on my website<a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/saga3.html" target="_blank"> here</a>. <br />
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One thing that people might not guess is that this piece references Monet.<br />
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<img src="https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/437127/1546155/restricted" width="100%" />
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Call it a remix.<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/artworkimagesforsplash/3840%20images/saga3execbugdet.jpg" width="100%" />
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<br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Samantha Simpson, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Saga 3 <em>detail</em>, </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Ink and watercolor on paper, 92" x 51", 2018</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-center;" />
<br />If you're interested in seeing updates on work in progress, please follow me on instagram! I'm slow about updating this blog but I'm better over there, where I post as <a href="http://the_drawist./">the_drawist.</a> There are even details of Saga 4, which I'm working on right now.<br />
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*I am Canadian, so I feel I'm entitled to be chuffed by virtue of our association with the Queen.Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-21780443684581323802018-11-23T08:56:00.001-05:002018-11-23T08:56:48.796-05:00Still, still, I mean it, After AllMy book is here!<br />
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It's finally done and I'm so happy about how it came out- I've been working on it for over a year, on and off, trying to figure out how to translate my text heavy images into the book form. It's a project I was very interested in because for a long time I've been thinking that my work lies somewhere between painting and writing. Many of my pieces have repeating characters and themes and several of my images work as chapters in on ongoing narrative, rather than conclusions in and of themselves.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQx5KgjRWx4p8e6zDtit5ZAT5XiK5AiDUqUft6zYB-ZXO_oOwOufkzp9FEqqIMA1_T8-fDIrGfBYRwXWphLt9dwDXWjUkT-7OXVdXxjCafs-Zz8aORIkVbYD0n_8ipCsmFnEPR/s1600/IMG_6733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQx5KgjRWx4p8e6zDtit5ZAT5XiK5AiDUqUft6zYB-ZXO_oOwOufkzp9FEqqIMA1_T8-fDIrGfBYRwXWphLt9dwDXWjUkT-7OXVdXxjCafs-Zz8aORIkVbYD0n_8ipCsmFnEPR/s640/IMG_6733.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's very satisfying to have this series of pieces in a book format, all together, in sequence, with the important text readable in the correct order. The book is 144 pages long and the images are large and only slightly less vivid than the originals. I love it. You can take a look at the first 15 or so pages by clicking the little image below, which links you to a little preview of the book on Blurb, the print-on-demand site where I had the book made.<br />
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<a data-bindattr-45="45" href="http://www.blurb.com/bookshare/app/index.html?bookId=7131001" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-bindattr-46="46" src="https://www.blurb.com/images/uploads2/catalog/006/373/098/7684121-5d5a27beb4459957ccb3b947fa7d12a0.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-shadow: rgb(153, 153, 153) 3px 3px 10px 1px; max-height: 300px; max-width: 300px; zoom: 50%;" />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="border-bottom: 0; color: #00c0be; font-size: 18px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;" target="_blank"><script id="metamorph-321-start" type="text/x-placeholder"></script>Still, Still, I Mean It, After All<script id="metamorph-321-end" type="text/x-placeholder"></script></a></div>
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By <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" style="color: #00c0be; text-decoration: none;"><script id="metamorph-322-start" type="text/x-placeholder"></script>Samantha Simpson<script id="metamorph-322-end" type="text/x-placeholder"></script></a></div>
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If you'd like to purchase a copy, you can do so at that link too, but be warned: the softcover version is totally beautiful but way more expensive than what you'd pay for a similar book in a bookstore. This is what happens when one can't get thousands of copies of a book published in China. There is an ebook version available as well, and I get about the same amount of money from sales of either book, so if you're interested in supporting what I so by buying a book, do what fits your budget. If you are a huge fan and would like a personalized copy, please email me at sam@samanthasimpson.com and I will make arrangements to send one your way!Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-32487759597654859782018-04-06T20:06:00.000-04:002018-04-06T20:06:03.528-04:00Saga 2<br />
Saga 2 is up on the website! I'm in the thickets of Saga 3 right now, but I still love working large. Saga 2 is seven feet eight inches long. Here is a tiny picture of the huge painting. You can see it bigger<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/saga2.html" target="_blank"> on my website</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/saga2overall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/saga2overall.jpg" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="500" /></a></div>
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There are are some funny references in the piece. The black ship on the right is the U.S.S. Constitution, and the one on the S.S. United States, which is a sad wreck of an ex-cruise ship that is docked across from IKEA in Philadelphia. There are several recognizable political figures in the painting (many of them show up as a well-dressed species of invasive aquatic sponge) and the flowers from <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/saga1.html" target="_blank">Saga 1</a> , which I came to think of as hysterical media beasts, have weaponized their speech. These paintings connect end to end, and they are meant to be read as one big narrative, from left to right.<br />
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I post pictures of my work in progress on Instagram a fair amount now (I'm the_drawist), and there's a nice picture of Saga 1 and 2 together there, as well as a few shots from a wonderful show I saw at the National Gallery recently: <a href="https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2018/outliers-and-american-vanguard-art.html" target="_blank">Outliers and American Vanguard Art,</a> which was so, so good.Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-9395835089348226562017-10-27T13:24:00.000-04:002017-10-27T13:24:35.835-04:00Politics (In the Weeds with Snakes and Saga 1)I'm working on a series of paintings that are more explicitly political than what I've made before. <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/weedswithsnakes.html" target="_blank">In The Weeds With Snakes</a>, from earlier this year, is very clearly about a personal reaction to the election. The content of this piece is impossible to see at a small size but you can click the link above to see details.<br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/huge/intheweedswithsnakesoverall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/huge/intheweedswithsnakesoverall.jpg" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="800" height="486" width="640" /></a><br /></div>
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And this, below, is also an allegorical response to the current climate. It's also huge: it's an 8 foot watercolor and ink painting on paper. I love making giant watercolors, and I'm well into making the next one in this series. I'm going to make several of these large pieces. Each painting will continue the action the one before it, and the edges will match, so images flow from painting to painting. I've titled the first one of these paintings <i>Saga 1</i>, but I may well change that title as I get more of the series done. You can see more of Saga 1 on my <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/saga1.html" target="_blank">website, here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/sagaoverall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/sagaoverall.jpg" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="800" height="352" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Samantha Simpson, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Saga 1 (Working Title), </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Ink and watercolor on paper, 96" x 51", 2017</span><br />
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The large sequential pieces are based loosely on the saga of the Danian war that winds around Trajan's column in Rome.<br />
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<a href="http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1419817/trajans-column.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1419817/trajans-column.jpg" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="800" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've been lucky enough to teach in Rome a couple times, and when I'm there I always visit the huge hole in the ground that surrounds Trajan's column. You can't easily get right up close to the images that wind around the column, but there is a long set of informational displays that show the images unwound in one long line. I'm always moved by those pictures. I know very little about the historical context of what I'm seeing, but it feels like a message from a lost society about the cost of a battle. It's a victory column with a message: we did this. Don't do it again. If you're interested, there's a great website that shows the images <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/trajan-column/" target="_blank">here</a>. You can see details of my work on <a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/" target="_blank">my website</a> or on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/the_drawist/?hl=en" target="_blank">instagram,</a> where I post in-progess shots of what I'm up to from time to time.Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-26898732253811905012016-10-27T20:29:00.000-04:002016-10-27T20:29:27.457-04:00Philadelphia civic pride and frogs about the election<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm particularly Philly proud this month because my work is in two group shows in two of my favorite civic buildings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You can see my work in <i>A City of Artists, Celebrating the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours</i> <a href="http://creativephl.org/tagged/Exhibitions-and-Performances/" style="color: #551a8b;">Philadelphia Art in City Hall</a> gallery in room 116 on the first floor of City Hall. The exhibition was organized by the wonderful people at <a href="https://www.cfeva.org/">CFEVA</a> and runs through December 2, 2016. The show celebrated the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, which run annually in October, and which brought some lovely people to my studio last weekend.
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A tiny book with images from my paintings will also be on view in another Philadelphia civic building in November: I'm in the <a href="http://www.philadelphiacenterforthebook.org/" target="_blank">Philadelphia Center for the Book</a>'s Little Lexicons exhibition at the Philadelphia Free Library's Central branch. The exhibition will be up from November 4th to January 13, 2017, and I couldn't be more thrilled. The Philadelphia Library is one of my favorite places in Philadelphia, and I am a regular. I especially love their Print and Picture collection and the exhibitions up in the Rare Books Collection. If you are from Philadelphia and you haven't been up there, you should go, stat. (Because <a href="http://www.phillymag.com/news/2011/10/31/poes-raven-stuffed-free-library/">Grip</a>!)<br />
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And last but not at all least, my latest frog painting, <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/whatwemustdo.html" style="color: #551a8b;">What We Must Do</a>, is in a show curated by the brilliant Susan Coote in Episcopal Academy's Crawford Gallery called <em>Messages and American Dreams</em>, which is up until November 16th, 2016. I'm delighted that Susan included this piece it: she's an amazing curator, and these frogs are all about the election, so it's wonderful to have them in this show.</span><br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/huge/gulliveroverall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/huge/gulliveroverall.jpg" height="512" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-62662340128467949542016-04-06T17:58:00.000-04:002016-04-06T17:58:42.374-04:00Two new paintings: Visions and What we Must DoI just put two new paintings on the website. The first one, <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/visions.html" target="_blank">Visions</a>, is one that I started last fall before a brain injury and resultant vision problems stopped me working for a long time. There was a break in the middle of making this painting, but that worked out well. It's a complicated painting. The piece is about envisioning and vision, how we see ourselves and how we see painting.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX61_TQTHpRpT30VukCA8ajKMAeexZCmoQPFmXwjeMG8urKJf8k7BUhhwPJM7wehgGVIZbNF2fe7TpdhlKYvZigj_Ya1ZgrNdMRfOTuxQkNiiTca_qg4ytazsjIljwJVczjlmM/s1600/visionsoverall2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX61_TQTHpRpT30VukCA8ajKMAeexZCmoQPFmXwjeMG8urKJf8k7BUhhwPJM7wehgGVIZbNF2fe7TpdhlKYvZigj_Ya1ZgrNdMRfOTuxQkNiiTca_qg4ytazsjIljwJVczjlmM/s1600/visionsoverall2.jpg" /></a></div>
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The main text, which starts in the banner on the left, says, "If we presume it comes from what we need..." </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiI8TrM2RQ6I4g2e6mCk8JF8eogc_QzvLIstLDf0wyedE1GtSKnSw8oai4bAOTtU4EKYNuvw9YLK_C6ZhhQTke5rGZGFcZlXIarqYN5_ODOIH3V86W-v5LJDIcIM7_NCbbDr-y/s1600/visionsflowersandmoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiI8TrM2RQ6I4g2e6mCk8JF8eogc_QzvLIstLDf0wyedE1GtSKnSw8oai4bAOTtU4EKYNuvw9YLK_C6ZhhQTke5rGZGFcZlXIarqYN5_ODOIH3V86W-v5LJDIcIM7_NCbbDr-y/s1600/visionsflowersandmoon.jpg" /></a></div>
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It continues across the top of the painting, "Maybe we should come to terms."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vbs_8gMMZioZTeSoYm5iemIY3Mm1S8cx8awQfSjMvvpbCaDhiAfF34qliOOvGIYmtL7PqUvzsrlS5ngdnsXdS-QfNzpQ_KFXCuNhoj2Sr2lyjSTXCjlWwC6VCrrc2VpNsmWc/s1600/visionsmaybedet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vbs_8gMMZioZTeSoYm5iemIY3Mm1S8cx8awQfSjMvvpbCaDhiAfF34qliOOvGIYmtL7PqUvzsrlS5ngdnsXdS-QfNzpQ_KFXCuNhoj2Sr2lyjSTXCjlWwC6VCrrc2VpNsmWc/s1600/visionsmaybedet.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeVyLyUWq-vRQyhm0MP-5KhnHKw6KWgImCLrPVySKnVGP5Js4c5oO3179Xjkh31NK7vXvzAbVgkvwgjnnSs_tcnt3M-ngg8FAM8cTOFT3FSc3xJhhNNhAUuVZf5SpMFiLT_9eF/s1600/visionstermsdet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeVyLyUWq-vRQyhm0MP-5KhnHKw6KWgImCLrPVySKnVGP5Js4c5oO3179Xjkh31NK7vXvzAbVgkvwgjnnSs_tcnt3M-ngg8FAM8cTOFT3FSc3xJhhNNhAUuVZf5SpMFiLT_9eF/s1600/visionstermsdet.jpg" /></a></div>
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What I'm talking about here is my sense that there are vast areas of aesthetic pleasure and exploration that are left out of most art making. It's the same sensibility that motivates a lot of lowbrow work, but in my case I'm intent upon reconciling my sense of what is important in my daily life with what I value in painting. I'm trying to integrate my visual and psychological pleasures; my tendency to be an aesthetic omnivore and my desire to create a narrative complexity that honors lived experience.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIM1PdGPAA6raB0EDvUbSSD4e0MXdCM6Oc8yoHdGiZp9vE22GSxUdvvDXIQVc5foMWkQmhYzHRnsAQZKc2coFsXmBWKQ4eFVtqZ5w7bL8TnPvMeZkIi-d6KXaVZZmZye4cgozP/s1600/visionsflowersdet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIM1PdGPAA6raB0EDvUbSSD4e0MXdCM6Oc8yoHdGiZp9vE22GSxUdvvDXIQVc5foMWkQmhYzHRnsAQZKc2coFsXmBWKQ4eFVtqZ5w7bL8TnPvMeZkIi-d6KXaVZZmZye4cgozP/s1600/visionsflowersdet.jpg" /></a></div>
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These flowers are saying "It's us against the world" and "But, but...I like the world!" The first flower replies: "Oh Yeah."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLTchTha06jDSjUZdaQ-6q2yZzvvCQPu0p6oYykiAz5VMklsC6iqOi5YBZaOm5xwvjs30jRIGH68m84FgDFdlEzBem93Ygnz9Y1Rvo8r7JAm0lRLzauke1VSSE853K3Js6M6m/s1600/visionsfamilydet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLTchTha06jDSjUZdaQ-6q2yZzvvCQPu0p6oYykiAz5VMklsC6iqOi5YBZaOm5xwvjs30jRIGH68m84FgDFdlEzBem93Ygnz9Y1Rvo8r7JAm0lRLzauke1VSSE853K3Js6M6m/s1600/visionsfamilydet.jpg" /></a></div>
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(I hardly ever draw myself in paintings, except as a frog or bug.)</div>
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There are three big eyes in the painting. Each one is different. This one says, "The looked-at eye, imagined, adored. " The one on the left below is labeled, "The neutral, seeing eye, perceiving, confused." and the one on the right is the biological eye.</div>
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The turtle is making a proclamation. It says, "Perhaps there's more to be gained from a reconstruction of the natural than from the pseudo scientific narrative of modernity, which, let's face it, leaves everything out." The blue creature behind the turtle is a glyptodon, which is a wonderful prehistoric armadillo-like creature the size of a Volkswagen beetle.</div>
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I've made several small experimental drawings and paintings that I haven't put on the website, but I do post them, and pictures of work in progress, on instagram. You can follow me @ the_drawist. There are several new little paintings and drawings on instagram that began as test pieces: I've been trying out some new materials, thinking about making more pieces that lean more towards painting than drawing. </div>
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The piece below, which is called, <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/whatwemustdo.html" target="_blank">What We Must Do</a> is almost entirely a painting. Only the eye of the large frog is drawn in ink. It's on a panel, and although I liked making it, I doubt I'll give up my pens any time soon.</div>
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(I mentioned above that I rarely do self portraits that are not frogs or bugs. In this piece I'm the frog on the bottom right.)</div>
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You can see details of my pieces on<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/" target="_blank"> my website</a>, and if you have any questions, ask away...<br />
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<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-38025627929050725402016-01-22T11:35:00.001-05:002018-11-23T08:45:15.075-05:002015 Went Out With a Bang..On the Head<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samantha Simpson, Pumpkinhead and the Egg (detail), Watercolor, 2015 </td></tr>
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My website shows hardly any work for 2015 and unfortunately there is a very good reason for that. I spent the summer making a book, and there are a few paintings I haven't put up there yet, but the big problem was that I sustained a major brain injury. I concussed myself, badly, doing nothing very impressive. I was sweeping up some crap off the floor and when I stood up I hit my head hard on a counter. And that started a serious four month process of healing from my fourth concussion.<br />
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My first concussion was when I was in thrird grade. Fell off a wall, woke up in an ambulance. Second was in college. Bike accident: passed out, woke up, wore a neck brace for a while, done. My third was five years ago: banged my head on some scaffolding, felt sick for about a week. This one was far, far worse. I damaged my brain. I severely knocked off my vision and sense of balance. There is a pretty good article online <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2015/may/19-fighting-through-the-fog" target="_blank">here t</a>hat talks about someone else who had a major concussion with vestibular issues: my experience was like his in many ways, but it was also better and worse. I healed much faster than him because I did vestibular therapy, which works really well. My experience was worse than his because I also had severe vision problems. I couldn't read, much less drive. Looking at anything too difficult (text, a phone, a pattern, knitting) blew out my vision almost immediately. It would double and stick that way. The combination of the vision and the vestibular issues made it difficult for me to do very specific visual tasks. My eyes didn't track well together, so I couldn't handle stripes, patterns, looking back and forth or near and far quickly, or looking at too much fine detail. I'd get a migrane, then dizziness, then my vision would blur out, then the world would start tilting and I'd have to high tail it to a dark room. Vestibular issues mean that you offload your balance problems to your visual cortex, so that you can't handle too much visual stimulus without falling over, so I was very very dizzy a lot, and I hung out in dark closets like some crazy art professor Quasimodo when I was teaching in order to reset my brain between classes. I did manage to do a few sad paintings of bruised pumpkin heads, but that's about it. It was a pretty miserable fall. (You might notice that the image above is blurry. Yeah.)<br />
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But on Tuesday I got kicked out of vision therapy. I can read, I can work on screens, I'm cleared to drive and I can do my art (Stripey! With lots of detail! And patterns!) so I'm hard at work, and so happy about it. I'm back at work on a painting I started this summer, and it's great to be at it again. </div>
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Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-10511669974026173212016-01-02T21:28:00.003-05:002016-01-02T21:28:32.608-05:00Mummers!This year I was in Philadelphia for New Years, which meant I had the great pleasure of photographing the mummers! It is one of my favorite ways to start the new year. Enjoy.<br />
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I will post new work soon, I hope. I had an injury that messed up my vision for a while, but I'm almost done recovering and can't wait to get back in the studio.</div>
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Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-7493901937141106282015-07-31T15:16:00.001-04:002015-07-31T15:16:51.142-04:00ApparitionI've got another new piece up: <i>Apparition</i>. You can see it larger <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/apparition.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and there are details that show most of the text online too...<br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/apparition_overall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/apparition_overall.jpg" /></a></div>
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The frog in the orange coat is a self portrait, and my husband is on the far left. Try not to make a fuss if you recognize us in the street.<br />
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The floating spaceman-creature in the clouds is from Das Triadische Ballet, a dance that was originally choreographed by Oscar Schlemmer in 1922. He also designed the costumes, which are amazing.<br />
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<a href="http://s.art-nerd.com/newyork/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/02/schlemmer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://s.art-nerd.com/newyork/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/02/schlemmer.jpg" /></a></div>
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I had never come across it before, although many people I know had already seen it. There was a great reconstruction of the dance that was done in 1970 on youtube. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend that you get comfortable, maximize the little video below and have a look. I love it.<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/87jErmplUpA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/87jErmplUpA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-27325778997457659382015-07-28T19:15:00.001-04:002015-07-28T19:15:12.947-04:00 Pattern Pieces and Pond BookI just posted a new image to the blog: it's called <i>Pattern Pieces</i>, and you can see it on the website <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/pattern_piece.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_overall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_overall.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">I've been thinking about patterns: how they comfort and mislead us. This piece is about that idea. The blue pattern of feathers behind the swan has sewing marks.</span></div>
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_swandet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_swandet.jpg" /></a></div>
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There are two main things happening in the piece: there is the swan overlooking the frogs and flowers in a menacing fashion, and there are the frogs, who are performing a play.<br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_frogsdet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_frogsdet.jpg" /></a></div>
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The actor frogs are dressed as flowers and swans. The frogs on the bottom right of this detail are playing out the action: there is a frog who is playing a swan (fake beak, feathers) being attacked by a frog who is behind him, dressed as a flower.<br />
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The real flowers in the piece function as a chorus. They comment on the action. The flower on the right below says, "I'm not sure..." and the one on the left says, "I have been ready my whole life!"<br />
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_flowdet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pattern_flowdet.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/patternDSC_0072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/patternDSC_0072.jpg" /></a></div>
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It's been a busy summer. I made a book! It just arrived in the mail the other day, and it looks great.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">The book is based on a series of paintings that I've been calling my Pond pieces. The paintings in that series play out a complex narrative about art and beauty. The structure of the book is loosely similar to that of a graphic novel: each piece is shown in such a way that the text can be read in order, so that characters and themes that repeat from piece to piece can be clearly seen in a progression. </span></div>
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I'm in the proofing stage now- I made one copy of the book and so far I'm thrilled .<br />
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I'd love to send one to all the wonderful people who have supported my work, but it turns out that it's disgustingly expensive to make a nice quality art book. The next step, once I finish the final adjustments, will be to see if I can get some funding and send it around to commercial publishers. Suggestions about potential publishers or curators or gallerists who might like to see this work are more than welcome: I'm excited about what I'm making and can use any ideas about finding an audience for this work.<br />
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<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-21282272464368123332015-05-06T19:57:00.002-04:002015-05-06T20:09:49.198-04:00Spring update and news<div>
Two of my pieces are up right now in Gallery Joe's <a href="http://www.galleryjoe.com/" target="_blank">Bye Bye Old City</a> show in Philadelphia...It's a short exhibition, but it's beautiful, and it shows many of the incredible artists that Gallery Joe has supported over the years. The show closes on May 16th, and the gallery will be sorely missed in Old City. They've been wonderful to work with, and I especially love being in this show because they hung two of my favorite pieces.</div>
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/loveputz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/loveputz.jpg" height="640" width="476" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"> </span><a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/loveputz.html" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank">Love Song</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.galleryjoe.com/uploads/images/6c0424b7ff98e4866a73f247c18e9730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.galleryjoe.com/uploads/images/6c0424b7ff98e4866a73f247c18e9730.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.galleryjoe.com/other-artists/simpsons" target="_blank">A Promise is a Promise.</a><br />
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(This is an etching I made with the wonderful help of James Stroud at Center Street Studio.)</div>
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You can also check out several of my newer pieces in the<a href="http://www.pierogi2000.com/" target="_blank"> flat files at Pierogi Gallery</a> in Brooklyn. I'm delighted to be included, and you can see a few pieces online at Pierogi as well.</div>
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I've also seen a ton of great art lately. Some of the best of it was done by my friends Anda Dubinskis and <a href="http://www.orlandopelliccia.com/" target="_blank">Dino Pellicia</a>, who have a show up at the <a href="http://www.philadelphiacathedral.org/visual_arts" target="_blank">Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral</a>. It's the most unlikely space for contemporary art ever, and also a very difficult space for work: it's got beautiful stained glass windows and serious architecture and looks, frankly, like it would eat most contemporary art for lunch. But not theirs. Dino's underwater whirlpools in the baptismal font are incredible, and <a href="http://anda-dubinskis.com/" target="_blank">Anda's drawings are amazing</a>. I'm waiting for someone to find and promote Anda's drawings into the stratosphere: they're gorgeous, but they need to be seen in person: they're huge, and the scale doesn't translate online. </div>
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I wish I had more time to blog, because I saw some fantastic exhibitions in Philadelphia recently. <a href="http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/817.html" target="_blank">Drawn with Spirit</a>, the Fraktur show at the Philadelphia Museum's Perleman building was a revelation, and equally amazing, although different, is Judith Tannenbaum's exhibition <a href="http://libwww.freelibrary.org/frakturframing/" target="_blank">Framing Fraktur</a> at the Philadelphia Central Library. That show is a knockout, and again, it's in a space that can be tricky for art. </div>
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I also can't get over the <a href="https://www.pafa.org/exhibitions/peter-blume-nature-and-metamorphosis" target="_blank">Peter Blume</a> show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. I saw it the day before it closed because I happened to catch a really great talk about the precursors to the Chicago Imagists given by the curator, Robert Cozzolino. I didn't think I was terribly interested, but I was sooo wrong. Holy crow! Peter Blum, people! </div>
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I'm also so pleased to be included in this amazing project: <a href="http://www.artistintheworld.com/" target="_blank">Artists In the World</a>. </div>
Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-43140322815369424912015-01-24T21:10:00.002-05:002015-01-24T21:10:40.574-05:00Birds of Rome, and also EggsI'm back from Rome and have just posted two huge new pieces on the website. If you'd like to check them out click the titles below. Rome was beautiful, amazing and wonderful of course, but I love Philadelphia, too, it turns out. I forgot.<div>
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This one is <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/birdsofrome.html" target="_blank">Birds of Rome</a>.</div>
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This one is <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/eggsandworries.html" target="_blank">Eggs and Worries</a>.</div>
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I'm pleased to report that Gallery Joe showed two of my tiny drawings in their recent group exhibition, <i>Joy. </i>It was a lovely show full of some really great artists, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. You can also see lots of the small work I made last year in the flat files at Pierogi gallery in Brooklyn. They have <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/givenallthis.html" target="_blank">Given All This</a> and <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/stillstill.html" target="_blank">Still, Still</a>, from my last post, as well as these new ones I didn't have time to post before I left the states. Stop by and see them if you are in Brooklyn!</div>
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Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-75229391596833793392014-08-09T10:01:00.003-04:002014-08-09T10:01:57.065-04:00Lots of new work- and ciao ciao!I have been working hard in the studio for months trying to meet a deadline: I was asked to make a whole bunch of small work in six months- but I only had four months. So I worked like a fool, and I made twelve new pieces. And then the gallery had to postpone the appointment- which turns out to be great, since I felt like I hit a new stride right at the end of the four months with these two pieces, and now I have more time to make things at a slower pace, which I like. If you click these images you can see details on the website, and there are links that will take you to the rest of my new work.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">I</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: -webkit-center;"> really want to write about the text in this piece, because there are lots of funny details, but I have to pack. I'm going to Rome! I love Rome. A curator I know said that there was a long tradition of artists going to Rome and having their heads explode- it's true. The city is full of exuberant Baroque art, and the standard for exuberance is radically different in an old quaker city and an ancient catholic one. Being surrounded by Berminis, Borrominis, Michaelangelo, and Caravaggio- and all their thousands of imitators, all of whom were also amazing- changed my art forever. To say I'm looking forward to it is a massive understatement.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-center;">So this blog update is necessarily tiny- but there is lots of <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawings.html">new work on the website</a>, and in four months there will be work from Rome..</span></span>Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-35055790087962047502014-02-18T12:44:00.000-05:002014-02-18T12:47:21.350-05:00Atlas moth! Peacock spider!I'm stopping the huge piece I'm working on to make some small pieces- I can't stop thinking about an atlas moth that just hatched this weekend in the butterfly room at the Academy of Natural Sciences. The volunteer working the room this weekend told me that atlas moths get up to a foot across and come out of their cocoon without mouths, which means they only live for three days. "Some people wonder what is the use, three days," she said, "but they serve as food for other animals."<br />
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This phrase is ringing in my ears. I'm going back to draw the moth and talk to the full time butterfly guy today- Atlas moths are incredibly interesting creatures. It turns out they live for about two weeks as mouthless moths, sustained by the fat of their caterpillar lives. They eat lime, guava, willow, cinnamon, poplar, avocado and tea... They are full of implications. Even their caterpillarhood is exciting. You can see their video here...<br />
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And in the wormhole that is youtube videos of bugs, I found out about the Peacock Spider, who drove me to blog despite the fact that I want to get to work. Because you have to see this guy.<br />
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It's a courtship dance. </div>
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<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-14023932198035263412014-01-13T12:52:00.000-05:002014-01-13T12:52:41.509-05:00In the meantime, poems<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I've got a new drawing in progress that I'm really excited about, but in the meantime, I've been discovering great poems for kids. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> My friends <a href="http://www.orlandopelliccia.com/" target="_blank">Dino Pellicia</a> and <a href="http://anda-dubinskis.com/index.html" target="_blank">Anda Dubinskis</a>, who both happen to be wonderful artists, gave me a great book of children's poetry that they used to read to their eldest son to help him fall asleep. It's a wonderful anthology- way better than any others that I've found so far (and I'm kind of a geek this way- I've been looking for a while). There's not a lot of competition. The anthologies I've seen so far don't hold a candle to the one Dino gave me, which a falling apart copy that was as well worn, soft and earmarked as mine has already become in the few months since I ordered my own. It's called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Favorite-Poems-Old-New-Selected/product-reviews/0385076967/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending" target="_blank">Favorite Poems Old and New</a> by Helen Ferris. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is her. It is perhaps retrograde to comment on the fact that she looks like a librarian, but it turns out that you want someone with librarian impulses picking your poems for you. Especially if it's Helen Ferris. She must have been obsessed with Children's Poetry. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One gets the sense that she read everything that there was to read for years- the book is just too good, too thorough and too smart- and it's 640 pages long. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I did a little research about her and discovered that she was was editor-in-chief of the Junior Literary Guild from 1929–1959. </span><u style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Favorite Poems Old and New </u><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was published in 1957. I find it entirely plausible that she worked on this book, collecting poems and squirreling them away, researching old and forgotten authors and finding new great stuff- for at least 27 years. However long it took,</span> it paid off, because she wrote the book that is still clearly the best over half a century later.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I often fantasize about approaching someone and asking if I can edit a new edition for the new century. 1957 was a long time ago, and that's a good thing. There is some ugly racism and a few crazily rhythmic poems that use the language of a fake Italian immigrant and many of the rest of the things that you'd expect in something from a 1957 white person. Except that the person involved was Helen Ferris, who makes you sad that she wasn't completely better than her time. I dare you not to love her a little if you read this book. Every single poem in the book is there for a reason, and the reasons are great. Helen liked things honest, funny, beautiful and real, and most of the poems are at least two of those things, usually three. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There are short ones:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Algy met a bear</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">the bear was bulgy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The bulge was Algy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And all the long ones I remembered liking as a kid. But there are also a million more equally good ones that I should have liked but never heard, like <a href="http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/Custard.html" target="_blank">Custard the Dragon</a> (realio, trulio), <a href="http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/The_Rum_Tum_Tugger_by_T_S_Eliot_analysis.php" target="_blank">The Rum Tum Tigger</a> and <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/poetrycompetition/article3228896.ece" target="_blank">The Song of Mr. Toad</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(See the great illustration below by Kerry Lemon from the London Times.)</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00233/kerrylemon_01_233485c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00233/kerrylemon_01_233485c.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Helen Ferris was a big fan of funny, and she had a good ear. She liked ridiculous, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <a href="http://fauquierlibrarylounging.blogspot.com/2007/05/ah-spoonerisms.html" target="_blank">Once a Big Molicepan </a></span><br />
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Once a big molicepan<br />
Saw a bittle lum<br />
Sitting on the sturbcone<br />
Chewing gubble bum.<br />
"hi!" says the molicepan,<br />
"Better simmie gome!"<br />
"Tot on your nintype!" says the bittle lum.<br />
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(Not on your tintype, the internet informs me helpfully, meant no, but the idiom seems to have existed for no good reason, which is explained at some length<a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-not4.htm" target="_blank"> here</a>.)<br />
<span style="color: #3c3a35; line-height: 55px;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Eletelephony by Laura Richards</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Once there was an elephant,<br />Who tried to use the telephant—<br />No! no! I mean an elephone<br />Who tried to use the telephone—<br />(Dear me! I am not certain quite<br />That even now I've got it right.)<br />Howe'er it was, he got his trunk<br />Entangled in the telephunk;<br />The more he tried to get it free,<br />The louder buzzed the telephee—<br />(I fear I'd better drop the song<br />Of elephop and telephong!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today I am in love with <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/thomas-hood" target="_blank">this guy's</a> poem. Isn't he handsome? It's a shame he's married. And dead. His name is Thomas Hood, and he lived from 1799–1845 and wrote the truest, funniest account of parenting that I have read so far. <b><a href="http://www.bartleby.com/337/1144.html" target="_blank">A Parental Ode to My Son, Aged Three Years and Five Months</a>.</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/uploads/authors/thomas-hood/448x/thomas-hood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/uploads/authors/thomas-hood/448x/thomas-hood.jpg" height="261" width="400" /></span></a>
</span>Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-41970138772887049342014-01-13T12:45:00.000-05:002014-01-13T12:45:14.540-05:00In the Belly of the Beast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm in the middle of another big piece that will take a while to finish, but this one was done before the holidays. Click <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/bellyofthebeast.html" target="_blank">here</a> to see it on my website. </span></div>
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/bellyofthebeast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/bellyofthebeast.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Samantha Simpson, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the Belly of the Beast, </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ink and watercolor on paper, 22"x30", 2013</span><span style="text-align: start;"> </span></div>
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<a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/bellyofthebeast_det.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/large/bellyofthebeast_det.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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I've also been making small digital collages for a project called <a href="http://supertwelve.com/" target="_blank">Super Twelve</a>. We were asked to make a small 12"x12"drawing every month of 2013 in response to a piece of music. I thought that was a nice idea, but it drove me a little crazy at first. I am not interested in working very small right now. I started making small drawings anyways, then as the months went on I began taking details of my big drawings and making repeat patterns from them on the computer. I was happier with that- digital files don't have an inherent scale unless you print them, so perhaps that fixed my problem with the size. I'm curious to hear responses to those (or any other) pieces, so if you have one, drop me a comment.Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-81586596852357432722013-11-05T13:13:00.001-05:002013-11-05T13:13:32.991-05:00The Premature Funeral<img src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/premature-funeral.jpg" />
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<i><a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/premature_funeral.html" target="_blank">The Premature Funeral</a></i>, Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 22"x 30", 2013<br />
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The text above, near the top left flower says "We mourned as we blessed our luck" and "She was an unfortunate casualty." Below, by the swan, it says, "They were too quick to declare her deceased" and "She pretended but the sunset never bought it."<br />
<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-44313499221679518612013-09-24T14:35:00.000-04:002013-09-24T14:35:07.711-04:00This is a new one I've just finished...<br />
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<img src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/springidyll.jpg" /><br />
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It's Spring Idyll and you can see it larger on my website <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/springIdyll.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-40337102463217865962013-08-21T16:14:00.001-04:002013-08-28T16:11:54.993-04:00Slithering in the studio I've made a bunch of huge new pieces that I finally managed to get on <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawings.html" target="_blank">the website</a> today. This is a snake from my last show:<br />
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<img src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/iwasntthere.jpg" />
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Samantha Simpson,<i> Innocent Snake #1</i><br />
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The new pieces have snakes too.<br />
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<img src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/thethingis.jpg" /><br />
Samantha Simpson,<i> <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/thingis.html" target="_blank">The Thing Is, The Thing Is</a></i><br />
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<img src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/evolution_aside.jpg" /><br />
Samantha Simpson, <i><a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/evolutionarily.html" target="_blank">Evolution Aside</a></i><br />
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In this piece the snake says, "But we are so alike" and the swan replies, "That's hardly the issue." Tiny text in the background says,"These beauties have always been hard on their admirers." The title refers to the fact that some dinosaurs had feathers. I think of the snake and the swan as relatives whose ancestors made different choices, on some level, long ago.<br />
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<img src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/springwind.jpg" /><br />
Samantha Simpson, <i><a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/springwind.html" target="_blank">Spring Wind</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>Around the time I made this piece I had a great studio visit with Adelina Vlas, who suggested that I try a larger piece without text. Below is the quietest piece I've been happy with in some time.<br />
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<img src="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/mortalcoils.jpg" /><br />
Samantha Simpson, <a href="http://samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/moralcoils.html" target="_blank">Mortal Coils</a><br />
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<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-87456474724748371072013-03-16T19:53:00.002-04:002013-03-17T01:00:41.941-04:00Langurs, Maps, The Female Gaze and Excuses..I am the lamest blogger ever. I've been doing exciting things, though, and I'm going to try to get back to this more regularly. Today I went to go see <a href="http://www.pafa.org/femalegaze/" target="_blank">The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World</a> show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. It's an incredibly lush, wonderfully varied show, and it's full of people I've never heard of who are making knockout work, as well as great pieces from the great old standards. There are several really incredible Judith Scheacter pieces, but that's just a fraction of what there is- there are so many great paintings and prints in this show that I can't begin to talk about them all. Just go see it. It's great. It was curated by the amazing Robert Cozzolino, who is one of the few men I'd trust to curate a show with this title. The work is so varied that the "Female Gaze" part seems ironic almost immediately, but as you move through the show it contradicts that feeling of irony because the work does address themes that are particularly relevant to women artists. It's a rich world in there, and the number of people who obviously should be getting more attention than they've gotten is huge.<br />
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There's also a fabulous painting by Patricia Traub called "A Steward of the Douc Langur." I can't find an image of it online, but her website has lots of great stuff including this one, <i>The Caregivers</i>, which shows a langur on the right side.<br />
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<a href="http://patriciatraub.com/images/578_homeimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://patriciatraub.com/images/578_homeimage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Patricia Traub teaches at PAFA, as does Judith Schaecter, but I've never met her. Philadelphia is small enough that this seems odd to me, especially because I am absolutely sure I've met the douc langur that's in the painting. His name, I think, is Duke, and he lives at the Philadelphia zoo, where he seduces every single person who looks at him with his beautiful languid langur eyes. Or, well, maybe all douc langurs do that. Could be.<br />
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<a href="http://blog.nj.com/route45/2009/07/DoucLangur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://blog.nj.com/route45/2009/07/DoucLangur.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This piece below is based on a map called <i>The Map of Tenderness</i> that you can read more about in<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/human-cartography-maps-that-define-the-mind/238416/" target="_blank"> this excellent article in the Atlantic about mapping the self</a>. It's got a ton of fabulous images of old weird maps of unmappable things, which I always love.</div>
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<a href="http://www.pafa.org/sitedata/artworkpics/2011_1_158_m.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://www.pafa.org/sitedata/artworkpics/2011_1_158_m.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Joyce Koslof, <span style="background-color: #adb291; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.pafa.org/museum/The-Collection-Greenfield-American-Art-Resource/Tour-the-Collection/Category/Collection-Detail/985/collectionid--20030/mkey--14087/pageindex--7/sort57---39/" target="_blank">Knowledge #51: The Map of Tenderness, 1678</a></span></div>
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PAFA has <a href="http://www.pafa.org/femalegaze/" target="_blank">a pretty good website</a> filled with images from the show, but I think we all need to get the catalog. There was so much great stuff that I was running around the show with my camera, taking pictures of work I loved and names I wanted to find out more about. All of which I want to write about...but this is why I don't blog regularly. I'm too complete. I want to put in all the details of everything, just like I do in my paintings, and I don't have the time to do that in more than one medium. So let me just say- go see the show!<br />
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Also, my last post was written just before I went out to Firecat Projects to hang my show last summer. It was a wonderful show. Stan Klein, who runs the gallery with the help of his dog crew Ella, Bella and the Other Fella, is a wonderful, generous guy, and the whole trip was incredibly inspiring and nice. My show was sponsored by a very shy, sweet art supporter named Stewart Wagner, and everyone I met at Firecat was amazing and delightful. The Chicago art scene- at least the art scene at Firecat, seemed extraordinarily supportive. I met so many people I'd love to see more of, and I reconnected with people I hadn't seen in ages who made me think that if I do nothing else well in life I'm at least good at picking excellent friends.<br />
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I've made some new pieces that I will post soon. I'm making breakthroughs in the studio that I'm really excited about, which is part of why I haven't stopped to blog, but I will be posting those new images any minute now...I'm working bigger, better and stripey-er than ever before...Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-49938578888913285952012-07-27T15:32:00.000-04:002012-07-27T15:32:08.396-04:00Upcoming show at Firecat Projects!<span style="font-family: inherit;">
I keep wandering in to my studio just to look at the huge pile of framed work that is leaning against the wall. There's something about seeing work in frames that's like dressing up kids for a wedding. I'm so proud.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In a few days I'm taking the pile to Chicago for my show at<a href="http://www.firecatprojects.org/"> Firecat Projects</a>. I've been working on getting this show together for two years, but it feels like this is the culmination of something that started two years before that. When I got back from Rome in 2008 I entered a messy transitional period that drove me crazy very single day that I was in the studio. Somewhere around the middle of the last four years I caught a current, and I like the work I'm making now a lot. It's very satisfying.<br />
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Firecat Projects is an amazing space. The gallery is Tony Fitzpatrick and Stan Klein's wild idea- it's a nonprofit space that supports underecognized artists. They match sponsors with artists, and the sponsors pay for the gallery overhead for artists who show there so that they are able to produce shows without taking a commission on sales. It's a crazily generous plan, and I'm so grateful to them and my sponsor that I can't begin to say..<br />
<br />It's been a long time since I last posted, so there's lots of new work on<a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/artwork.html"> my website</a>, and while I'd normally write about each piece, I haven't got time to do that now. This piece, however, needs some explanation...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/nero.jpg" width="600" /></span><br />
<a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/nero.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Contemplation of the Skull of the Turtle Emporer Nero</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">, 22"x30", 2012</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">While this was hanging in my studio I asked everyone what the object in the center of the picture was, and I got some really funny answers- mushroom? Fungus? It's a turtle skull with seaweed on its nose and head, and it's drawn from one at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The premise of the piece is that the small turtles have found the old dead skull of a sea turtle and are eulogizing it in a totally clueless fashion when it is actually the skull of the turtle emperor Nero. The pointy text around the skull of the turtle reflects some reading I've been doing about Nero, who, it turns out, did not fiddle when Rome burned, but who was a pretty amazingly crazy man by all accounts. Sort of like Kim Jong Il, actually- he thought his singing could quell riots and that he was the world's greatest poet and that he'd win any contest he entered, and when he was finally going to be killed by a mob he asked some random stranger to demonstrate how to commit suicide so he would know how to do it. He also, in case you're interested, built an amazing palace with lattice-work ceilings through which slaves could throw flower petals and pump rose water mist down on his guests. It had a marble staircase with a waterfall on it, too, but unfortunately this was not exactly the kind of investment the Romans needed after Rome burnt- thus the mob.</span><br />
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Another piece in a similar vein is called <a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/ornament.html">Ornament</a>, (below) and it's a companion to the four swan pieces I mentioned in the last post. Many of these pieces fit together for me...The swans and the turtles and the snakes and flowers I've made for this show all exist in the same landscape, and they are all grappling with issues of power and aesthetics and mortality. In this piece, the swan's feathers have been made into a more controllable, democratic form of a wing, something shareable and manageable that not coincidentally is something people can hide behind. Each feather holds a triumphant little bug who is holding a flag that spouts a different reason to triumph. You can see details on the website by clicking the link on the title.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/ornament.jpg" width="600" /></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/ornament.html">Ornament</a>, Ink and Watercolor on paper, <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">22"x30", 2012</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">These are the snakes I mentioned. There are three innocent snakes:</span><br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/iwasntthere.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-center;"><a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/innocentsnake1.html">Innocent Snake 1</a>, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Ink and watercolor on paper 11"x15", 2012</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/itthenature.jpg" width="600" /></span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-center;"><a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/innocentsnake2.html">Innocent Snake 2</a>, </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Ink and watercolor on paper 11"x15", 2012</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/didntsee.jpg" width="600" /></span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-center;"><a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/innocentsnake3.html">Innocent Snake 3</a>, </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-center;">Ink and watercolor on paper 11"x15", 2012</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">I've also started making some pieces on panels, which is very fun. Panels make it impossible to use my .005 mm pens, which has to be a good thing since I always work with serious magnification when I use those pens- panels force me to make marks that are visible to the naked eye. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">I'm sort of in love with these pieces. When I'm not staggering backwards away from them wondering what in the hell I'm doing. Thus this piece, <i>Love Song,</i> below. Note the bug on the left, saying, "How embarrassing!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/loveputz.jpg" width="400" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/loveputz.html">Love Song</a>, </i><span style="background-color: white;">Ink and watercolor on panel, 12"x9", 2012</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/oh_no.jpg" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/oh_no.html">Oh No!</a>, </i><span style="background-color: white;">Ink and watercolor on panel, 12"x9", 2012</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/bad_feeling.jpg" /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_283666111">Bad</a></i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i><a href="http://amanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/bad_feeling.html"> Feeling</a>, </i></span><span style="background-color: white;">Ink and watercolor on panel, 12"x9", 2012</span></span><br />
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This one kills me, because I've been spending time in the gym lately searching for my elusive core muscles. It's based on a drawing of frog by J.I.I.Grandville that I love. The drawing shows a very sleepy looking frog, and the caption is "l'auteur se presente." Grandville was a big fan of bug commentary, and in this piece the bug is saying "A good plank works wonders."<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">There will probably be more frogs in my future- this is my most recent panel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/seductive_geomerty.jpg" /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/seductive_geometry.html">Seductive Geometry</a>, Ink and Watercolor on panel, 12"x12", 2012</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">If you click the link on the title the image will be embiggened so that the text is readable. That link will take you to the website, where there are even more pieces, but that's all for now. If anyone knows good places to visit in Chicago, let me know!</span><br />
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<br />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-25755474961048477982012-04-02T19:12:00.000-04:002012-04-02T19:12:13.589-04:00Reversal<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_overall.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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I finished this piece today- it's called <u>Reversal</u>, and it is the last in a series I've been working on since last spring. The full series includes these other three pieces.<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/pull_overall.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<u>Pull</u><br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/fightflightoverall.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<u>Fight/Flight</u><br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak.jpg" width="600" /><br />
<u>Episode</u><br />
<u><br />
</u><br />
You can see them all on my <a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawings.html" target="_blank">website</a>, but I'm also going to show them in August at Firecat Gallery in Chicago. I'm loving how they all look together- they are each quite large, and together they make a nice monumental narrative. I have no doubt that they go in the order that they are above, with <u>Reversal</u> being the last piece, but I don't really think that the ending is conclusive- either the third or fourth pieces could end the narrative, so the swan or the otter could win.<br />
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But it's not looking good for the otter in this piece.<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_ottereyesdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_ottereyesdet2.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_dimedet2.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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The main text on this piece is on the right. It says, "It can turn on a dime."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_flowers_overalldet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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On the left, a chorus of flowers and bugs say, "She gave us something, too. The springtime..."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_bloomingdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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"with its blooming (bleeding) hope. But we knew..."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_shealsodet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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"She also brought the winter... "<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_dowiththatdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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"What were we supposed to do with that??"<br />
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Morning glories wind around the swan, and below its mangy neck, bugs gather peony petals as tokens in the way that they collected feathers in an earlier piece.<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_fancydet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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I really liked the turtle I made in the last piece, and in this one it reappears to snark at a sanctimonious dragonly.<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_godiedet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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Now that I've finished this series, I'm going to do a series of smaller pieces with these crazy flower faces I've been working with. Or some tigers. Or caribou. Stay tuned!<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/reversal_flowers_toppeonydet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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And if you haven't seen or can't get to the Morgan Library's<a href="http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/exhibitionList.asp?exhibition=animals" target="_blank"> In the Company of Animals</a> exhibition, check it out online- some of the best pieces from the show are nicely catalogued on their website.Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19907602.post-53146783436404585382012-01-30T12:28:00.000-05:002012-01-30T12:28:31.367-05:00EpisodeI recently finished another large piece in this crazy epic battle series I'm making. This one is called <i>Episode,</i> and you can see it much larger on my website <a href="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/episode.html">here</a>.<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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These flowers are a chorus of sorts... <br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_flowersangdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_flowercrieddet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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The main text starts below the otter's feet...<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_hetextdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_defeatdet1.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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"He cloaked himself in her defeat..."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_wrappingdet1.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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"Wrapping her discredited beauty around his neck..."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_blandnessdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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And then, in the small balloons and the blue text, "Claiming moral victory/ Over her seductive frivolousness / As he hid his/ Powerful blandness/ In her perfect, useless wings."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_wingfishdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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The fish says, "He was our champion. He wanted something for all of us, something we could share. Something we could deserve."<br />
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The bug adds, "Not like she did, tarting all over town."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_bugtextdet1.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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On the other side of the piece the bug says, "It is nice to have it in a more manageable size. <i>This </i>beauty will fit right in, no hogging all the attention, no biting..."<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_bugtextdet2.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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He continues...<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_cantlookdet1.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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And then, in the feather boat, it says, "I cant look! I can't stop looking!"<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_centerdet.jpg" width="600" /><br />
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The otter fur has darkened in this piece, and the swan has switched genders. The otter may molt again in another piece, and their genders might switch again- in the last one, Fight/Flight, the swan and the otter were brothers. It doesn't matter. They are containers for ideas, and in this case the ideas about beauty I was talking about worked well with ideas about the control of femininity, so it made sense to have the swan be female in this one.<br />
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Anyway, gender-flexible animals have been around for a long time.. <br />
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<img src="http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/krazykat.jpg" /><br />
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I'm pretty happy with this turtle. I did a lot of turtle research: I went to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences to draw their turtle and worked from a number of pictorial sources- but in the end, as usual, I made the animal up. This is a very long fingernailed version of a red-eared box turtle.<br />
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<img src="http://www.samanthasimpson.com/drawingsnew/med/cloak_turtledet.jpg" width="600" />Sam Simpsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07728594049264102846noreply@blogger.com0