Simon P Walker

I have always painted and, like many before me, I had to make the choice whether to pursue an art or academic degree. I was awarded art scholarships at Felsted and went on to get A grages at O and A Level. I hung my first solo exhibition in 1989 at the age of 18 in our local village, and began to earn some cash selling my work and taking commissions. Pencil protraits and landscape oils were my stock in trade.

Two individuals stand out as influential in my artistic formation. Trevor Goodman, a traditional art teacher taught me the disciplines of colour and brushwork. Naturally conservative as an artist himself, I am grateful for the rigour of my own technique that developed under him.

Then, as a sixth former, David Smith arrived. Younger and more radical, he encouraged us to experiment. For me, light and colour became my own landscape of adventure. My work over the next four years recapitulated the late 19th century European developments- through the impressionism of Monet, to the divisionism of Seurat, and on to the colour abstractions of the Fauvists, Matisse and Cezanne.

Until the age of 25 art for me was a largely non-emotive exercise in pure colourism. I avoided the philosophical humanism of pure abstraction in favour of a version of realism in which colour and form integrated, through juxtaposition, to create new metaphors and symbols. I continued to paint and sell- managing to pay for a honeymoon and engagement ring with the proceeds!

The images below represent a small sample of my work during this period.