Press Release 09/05/17

for immediate use

2016 BAFTA Award Winning Special Effects Designer Simon Williams

Pushes the Boundaries of Abstraction at Porthmeor Studios Residency

Residency 1 April to 30 June | Exhibition Sat 29 July to Thurs 10 August at the Crypt Gallery, St Ives

Belletristic, 2017 | Mixed Media | 180cm x 120cm 

From 1 April to 30 June, BAFTA Award Winning special effects designer Simon Williams will be exploring ideas of progressive abstraction during his three-month residency at St Ives' historic Porthmeor Studios, in a space previously occupied by luminaries of British Abstraction such as Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron.

Balancing his career as a painter with his work as a designer in the film industry, Simon was selected in 2016 for exhibition as part of the John Moores Painting Prize at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery, and in the same year was part of the BAFTA award-winning special effects team onStar Wars: The Force Awakens. This spring he curated the exhibitionAfter Illusionat St Ives' Penwith Gallery, a show which brought together the work of six progressive South West abstractionists, and this summer will complete his Porthmeor Studios residency with an exhibition of new work at the Crypt Gallery, St Ives.

Simon's paintings draw on the abundance of visual material available to us in the digital age, including film posters, graffiti, advertising, packaging and the comic book illustrations of his childhood.

‘Painting, for me, is a preoccupation with abstracted marks and chance alignments. I am constantly exploring ways to create images which challenge the viewer's perceptions, where sharp edges meet highly graphic folds of paint on a vivid, screen like surface. I deliberately choose to make and modify my own pallet knives, tools which create a record of the artist hand and contest the conventions and signature of the paint brush. My working process is a balance between responding intuitively to mark making, and stumbling upon unpredicted visual reference.'Simon Williams 2017.

Simon Williams at Porthmeor Studios' historic Studio 5, May 2017

Simon Williams is in residency at Porthmeor Studios' historic Studio 5, St Ives, Cornwall from 1 April to 30 June.See his residency exhibition at the Crypt Gallery, Norway Square, St Ives, Cornwall, TR26 1NA from 29 July to 10 August. For further information go to www.simonwilliamsartist.co.uk

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PRINT READY 300 dpi IMAGES FOR PRESS USE:

Simon Williams, Belletristic, 2017

Simon Williams at Porthmeor Studios May 2017




Notes to Editors

Simon Williams

Simon Williams holds a BA Hons in Fine Art Painting from Loughborough College of Art, has lectured at the Royal College of Art and Design and was previously head of Technical Theatre Art courses at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London. He balances his full-time painting career with freelance work as an Animatronic Design Engineer in the British Film Industry, with credits on numerous feature films fromHarry Potterto the BAFTA award winningStar Wars. He currently works from his studio at The Old Bakery Studios, Truro, Cornwall.

Porthmeor Studios, St Ives

Porthmeor Studios date back to the early 1800s. For its first 100 years the building was at the centre of the pilchard industry, but artists started to arrive in the 1880s and built their studios on top of the fishermen's cellars. Since then, Porthmeor Studios have provided workspace for several internationally important artists, including Ben Nicholson, Francis Bacon and Patrick Heron.

An outstanding £4 million renovation programme was completed in November 2012, and the project was a joint winner of the Cornish Building Group Awards, and a finalist in the National Lottery Awards and English Heritage Angels Awards. In 2014 Porthmeor Studios won a RIBA National Award, and was therefore included in the Sterling Prize longlist for the best building of the year. Porthmeor Studios are owned and managed by The Borlase Smart John Wells Trust Limited.

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For further press information and additional images contact Mercedes at Fine Art Communications | director@fineartcommunications.co.uk | Tel 07825 270235 | www.fineartcommunications.co.uk