Simeon Stafford: Simeon's World

Simeon moved to Cornwall in the early 90s from 'up North' to focus entirely on painting and composing music. His artistic abilities manifested very early and by the age of 14 he was painting skies, that at first glance, were indistinguishable from his childhood hero, John Constable, and he was exhibiting widely across the North of England as well as in the Royal Academy's summer exhibition. Simeon appears to paint with sheer pleasure and seemingly light-hearted abandon as might a child, yet each brush mark is considered and always significant to the finished work. Looking at his paintings, one might recall a certain northern artist who encouraged Simeon as a young boy but the contrast between their work couldn't be more apparent. Stand in front of one of Simeon's paintings and for the most part we are transported into a world of undiluted happiness where skipping ropes, donkey rides, beach huts and fishing boats abound. Many of the characters in his paintings have been or are known to Simeon and he has many interesting tales to tell should you be fortunate enough to meet him. He will mesmerize you for hours with stories relating to his beach, London or fairground scenes - the latter which he began painting because his brother used to repair fairground machinery – such colourful scenes still figure very strongly in his work and to this day Simeon is always on the lookout for fairground memorabilia. Note in many of his paintings the girl doing a handstand who is his Aunty Dot with her dog Trixie. Simeon is captivated by distinctive or rather, idiosyncratic characters as much as he is the landscapes and seascapes in which they appear. These characters and the colourful world in which they live begin to captivate us too the more familiar we become with his work. Simeon's paintings can't help but make us smile, perhaps it is for a moment that we recall our childhood holidays, a time when the sun always seemed to shine. In Simeon's world it is almost always sunny and he wants to share that warmth with us and in today's challenging times Simeon's world is a nice place to be.

 

Simeon Stafford was born in the 1950s, in Duckinfield, a small northern town bordering the Pennines. He was introduced to L.S.Lowry after winning the Robert Owen School Award for Art and the Manchester News Portrait Award, who then became a friend of the family and encouraged him to study art. In 1972 and 1973, he studied at Hyde College and in 1974, became a professional artist and exhibited his work in mixed exhibitions throughout the north of England and London. His work at this time reflected the gritty northern landscape and characters in what has been called a primitive style. In 1996 Stafford moved to Cornwall where he met the artists Terry Frost and Patrick Heron, whose colour and light had a great impact on him. Simeon continues to have successful exhibitions in London and Cornwall. In 2001 his work was included in the Royal Academy Summer exhibition and in 2003 he became a member of the Birmingham Society of Artists.