DJ Simpson: Cropping
12 June - 18 July 2015
Experiments with various materials unite each work by DJ Simpson in Cropping.
DJ Simpson has developed a distinctive body of work over the last two decades and often uses "off-the-shelf" materials and treats them with industrial tools and processes.
For Simpson, OBJECT / A recasts itself as an atelier in which the exhibition is a site wherein various objects and materials enter into conversation with each other, with each work's role as a sample or tryout in a space that assumes the role of the studio. In Cropping, Simpson revisits previous works and leftover materials in his studio to edit and crop a new series of experimental objects and works which he presents in an informal manner.
These experiments reiterate Simpson's interest in materials and industrial processes; each work comprises an antithesis, such as Simpson's inclination to combine a "Do-it-Yourself" approach with an industrial process such as in Isovist Fold (2015) in which an aluminium sheet is shaped by hand then the industrial powder-coater adds colour to its surface. In contrast, Simpson's works such as Pink Prison 1 (2015) combine polyvinyl, an industrial material, with smears of acrylic paint which asserts the artist's physicality.
Simpson's works in Cropping pay reference to Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. Once described as a "painter who doesn't paint", Simpson's works on polyvinyl involve a minimal use of painterly gesture onto transparent material which references the technical methods of computer graphics programmes.
The "Minimalist" works of Donald Judd whose industrial materials such as concrete, steel, and Plexiglas serve to eschew the Abstract Expressionists' reliance on the self-reflexive "trace" of the artist. Simpson's practice, like that of Judd's, involves the use of various industrial sheet materials such as Formica, Perspex, and plywood. However, in Simpson's works the artist's "trace" is persistent, whether in Double Distance Fold (2015) whose shape is the result of the artist's physical interaction, or the paint smears in Pink Prison 1. Moreover, in works such as Morning Paper (2015), Simpson uses a Metal Nibbler to cut into the card support, a subtractive act in which he delineates areas of the surface to create mechanical strokes akin to "drawing with electricity".
DJ Simpson (MA Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, 1998) lives and works in London. Exhibitions include Real Painting (2015), Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; It's All About The Landscape (2014), Grizedale Arts, Coniston; Dawn Chorus (2012), Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds; The Painting Show (2011), Eastside Projects, Birmingham; New Works (2011), Platform A, Middlesbrough; and COMMA08: DJ Simpson (2009), Bloomberg SPACE, London. His works are in collections such as Arts Council Collection, UK; Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK; Leeds Art Gallery, UK; Centro De Arte Salamanca, Spain; and Fundación RAC, Pontevedra, Spain.
Artist Website