ABOUT THE ARTIST Blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, Simon Claridge’s work captures the female form in all its splendour, with each piece meticulously considered and crafted to suspend time and evoke an emotional response from onlookers; “My goal is to leave to the viewer some tangible emotional feeling”. Claridge has enjoyed many accolades in his career to date: he was commissioned by Alfa Romeo, created artwork on request for Henry Holland and counts LA stylist Rachel Zoe among his collectors. From his beginnings as a graduate of Fine Art, his career has been governed by the pursuit of doing what he was undoubtedly born to do. From studying art, to working in a gallery to subsidise his painting, to subsequently having his worked displayed in galleries nationwide, art is the consistent theme that courses through his resume. Being signed to one of the UK’s leading fine art publishers, Washington Green has given rise to the success that he has since enjoyed.
His portfolio showcases a selection of popular female cultural icons throughout history – from the worlds of film, fashion, modelling and music – in glorious detail. As a renowned figurative artist, Simon Claridge has made it his raison d’être to capture images that strike a chord with his wider audience. Claridge also visually acknowledges and chronicles timeless society figures from the annals of music history, the catwalks of the fashion world as well as cinematic greats like Marilyn Monroe. Every piece by Claridge commences its metamorphosis on a page in his sketchbook, wherein the formal reduction of the source and reference begins. Thus his painstaking process evolves, based predominantly on trial, error and “gut instinct”. This groundwork serves not only to lay out the foundations for his composition within the boundary of the canvas, but to ensure that the emotive content can be discerned; this being of utmost importance to Claridge. A change of pace will then occur; from
the unhurried sensitive sweeping of lines in his sketchbook, to the urgency with which he applies paint to the canvas to ascertain the colours and tones needed are in place, and back to a leisurely and time- consuming phase during which the multiple layers of paint are applied. Again, there is a noticeable juxtaposition within Claridge’s work; the sharper the lines he creates on the canvas, the more he blurs the line between fantasy and reality, allowing the subject matter to come into focus. “I’ve always regarded myself as a portrait painter - it’s where my passion lies - and for me the screen shots of Marilyn from her Fox movies are the ultimate portrait. It doesn’t get any better.” - Simon Claridge
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