Browse / Gregg Simpson
Gregg Simpson
Statement
I was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1947, but grew up on the west coast. I currently live on Bowen Island. I have been active in visual art and music since the mid-1960s. My work has been exhibited and published in museums and galleries in Canada, the U.S., Italy, France, England, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Chile Australia and Malaysia and is included in over 100 private and public collections internationally.
The west coast rainforest where I grew up and live in today is always an underlying factor in my work, alternating with influences derived from European art, especially surrealism and lyric abstraction.
My career has been noted and studied in several art journals, history books and academic studies at several major institutions including the Sorbonne in Paris, the Université Rabelais de Tours, and the Accademia Tiberina in Rome.
My work has evolved from the collages and Pop-influenced paintings of the 1960s, through the neo-Surrealism of the 1970’s to an organic abstraction since the 1980’s based in both landscape and the figure.
CV
I was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1947, but grew up on the west coast and lives on Bowen Island, near Vancouver. I have been active in visual art and music since the mid-1960s.
My work has been exhibited in and collected by museums and galleries in Canada, the U.S., Italy, France, England, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Chile and Costa Rica and is included in over 100 private and public collections internationally.
The west coast rainforest where I grew up and live today is always an underlying factor in my work, alternating with influences derived from European art, especially surrealism and lyric abstraction.
I was recently selected by the Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Tate Modern, London for an exhibition and book entitled Surrealism Beyond Borders.
A 2003 documentary on my work and career was made for BRAVO TV and exists now on YouTube and in a version French subtitles.
Private lessons with Charles Stegman, West Vancouver, BC, 1963
Vancouver School of Art (1963-67): Ron Stonier, Dave Mayrs
University of British Columbia. (1964-65) Don Jarvis, Bruce Boyd, Gerhard Class
2025
Homage aux Nabis, The Pont-Aven Suite, Museo E. Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Abstract Area, Jelmoni Gallery, Piacenza, Italy (solo)
Modern Baroque Galeria Angelica, Rome (solo)
2024
Dancers in the Garden, Galeria Il Leone, Rome
Dancers in the Garden, Museo MIIT, Turin
2023
Flamenco Abstractions, Popup Galerie Couteron, Paris (solo)
Notes of Art, Queen Gallery, Padua, Italy (solo)
Flamenco Abstractions, Capataloona Gallery, Madrid (solo)
2022
Dream Gardens, Galleri Bredgade 22, Copenhagen;
Galerie Azote Paris;
Dream Gardens, MO C.A. Gallery, Rome
2019
Dream Gardens, Salle du Couvent, Seillans, France
2018
Shadow Talk, Artifact Gallery, New York
Lost Worlds, Adelinda Allegretti Gallery, Gualdo Tadino, Italy
2017
The Colour of Dreams, Galeria Arte Borgo, Rome
The Colour of Dreams, Galerie Metanoia, Paris
2013
The Atlantean Years, 1970-1975, Fundacion-Museo Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
2012
The Atlantean Years, 1970-1975, Museu Dom Dinis, Estremoz, Portugal
The Atlantean Years, 1970-1975, Museu Regional, Beja, Portugal
2011
Out of the Forest, Evergreen Cultural Centre Gallery, Coquitlam, BC
2010
Totems Personelles, Espace Kameleon, Paris
Dream Totems, Colorida Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2006
Selected Drawings 1976-2006, Seymour Art Gallery, North Vancouver, BC
Selected Works 1999-2003, Bfly Atelier, Vancouver, BC
2003
Une Nouvelle Arcadie Salle des Artistes, Colomars
Una Nuevo Arcadie, Galeria d’Art Zero, Barcelona, Spain
2001
Une Nouvelle Arcadie, Aérport Nice-Côte d’Azur, Nice, France
Selected Drawings 1978-1999, Galleria Assioma, Prato, Italy
A New Arcadia, Lichthaus Gallery, Innsbruck, Austria
2000
Déssins Selectionées 1978-1999, Salle du Couvent, Seillans, France
Una Nouva Arcadia, paintings and pastels, Fortezza di Montalcino, Montalcino, Italy
Phantoms of Light, digital art/pastels/paintings, Studio 10, Vercelli, Italy
1996
Aprés Miro, Bennett Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
Classic Mode (photography), TECK Gallery
1993
Lyric Landscapes, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC
1991
Tribal Dynamics, Gallery Alpha, West Vancouver, BC
1986
Open Cages, Melmoth group, Pitt International Gallery, Vancouver (group)
Modern Ghosts, Richmond Art Gallery; Richmond, BC
1984
Retrospective: 1972-1984, Art Gallery of Algoma: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
1982
Recent Works, Galerie Surrealiste, Toronto, Ontario
Mixed Media Works, Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario
1973
Claw Series, Galerie Allen, Vancouver
1972
Paintings and Collages, Open Space Gallery, Victoria, BC
1969
Normal Constants, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
2025
Soundscapes, Palazo da Mula, Murano, Venice
2024
Around Rome, Palazzo Velli, Rome
Nostalgia for Beauty, Alexander Museum-Hotel, Pesaro, Italy
Anima Mundi, Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Venice
International Art Fair, Francesco Gonzaga Diocesan Museum, Mantua, Italy
2023
Terra, Galeria Angelica, Rome
restART, Giovanna de Mitri Palazzo dei Priori, Piazza del Commune, Assisi, Italy
Vernice Art Fair, Forlì, Italy
Floating on the Water, ArteSpazioTempo, Venice (group)
Aniconic, ArteSpazioTempo, Venice (group)
2021
Surrealism Beyond Borders, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / Tate Modern, London
Arte Padova, Padua, Italy (Art Fair)
Il Mundo di Colori, Pocket Art Studio, Rome
Animal House-3, Forme d’art, Rivoli, Turin, Italy (group)
2020
Group Exhibition, Bellman Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
2019
100 Anos de Surrealismo, Centre Culturel Espacio Matta, Santiago Chile (international survey)
Quello Che L’Arte Raacconta, Spazioio Porpora, Milan, Italy
Il Sentimenti del Mio Cuore, Mega Art Gallery, Corchiano, Italy
Contemporary Summer in Assisi, Assinarte, Assissi, Italy
2016
Viaggio Interiore, Spazio 40, Rome
ARS a Milano, Spaziarti Milan
Spring in Rome, Flyer Gallery, Rome
Les Llaves del Deseo, National Library, San José, Costa Rica
2015
Eye Candy, Loreta Larkina Gallery, Venice, Italy (2 person)
Kunst 2015, Gallery Zero, Berlin
Asemic Writing, The Spiral, Birgu, Malta
2014
Floral Immersions, (with Jeanne Sarich), BIAC Gallery, Bowen Island, BC
Cornucopia (collective works with Rik Lina and John Welson), Llianelli Library, Llianelli, Wales
2018
Shen Zhen City Art Fair, China
2012
The Atlantean Years, 1970-1975, Museu Dom Dinis, Estremoz, Portugal (solo)-
The Atlantean Years, 1970-1975, Museu Regional, Beja, Portugal (solo)
Surrealism 2012, Goggle Art Centre, Reading, PA (international survey)
2010
Coast Art Trust: Momentum, Leighdon Gallery, Vancouver (group)
Cross Connections: Four Decades of Contemporary Art in the Pacific Northwest,
University of Victoria Maltwood Gallery, Victoria, BC (Coast Art Trust Collection)
2009
El Umbral Secreto, Museo Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile, (international survey)
Exposiçäo de Surrealismo actual Illuminaçöes Descontinuas, Convento de San Jose,
Lagoa, Portugal
S.A.M. 2009, Chateau d’Auvers, Auvers-sur-l’Oise, France (art fair)
2008
O contrário do Olhar, Casa de Cultura, Coimbra, Portugal (international survey show)
Surrealismo como fenómeno colectivo, Museo Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
2007
Group exhibition, Montserrat Gallery, New York
Um Postal Para Mario Cesariny, Museu Vermhelho, Estremoz, Portugal (international group)
2006
Salzburg Art Fair (with Galeria d’arte Gaudi, Madrid), Salzburg, Austria
Abstractions (with Amy Ernst), Carteret Gallery, Morehead City, North Carolina
West Coast Surrealists, Grand Forks Art Gallery, Grand Forks, BC
2005
West Coast Surreal, Museo Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Abstractions et Figurations, Château Grimaldi, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France
2004
Contemporary Surrealism, Galeria Zero, Barcelona, Spain
Summer Group exhibition, Art-Domain Gallery, Port Andratx, Mallorca
2003
Euloge du petit format, Christiane Peugeot Cultural Center, Paris (international survey)
Convergency Art-Domain Gallery, Port Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
Abstra, Akros Gallery, Bilbao, Spain
2002
Europ’Art 2002 International Art Fair , Geneva, Switzerland
Inaugural Exhibition, Grupo Batik Art, Salona Barna, Barcelona, Spain
Three Painters (with Richard Bond and John Haig), Evergreen Cultural Center, Coquitlam, BC
1999
Continental Drift, Simon Patrich Gallery, Vancouver
1998
Binario Vivo: Ambiente E Creativita Sulla Strada Ferrata, Vercelli, Italy
Electrica Mente (digital art), Studio 10, Vercelli, Italy
Maldoror Park, Diversité Surréaliste, Université de Québec, Montréal (international survey)
Art 98, Vancouver Convention Centre (Art Fair)
1997
Selected Artists, Nicholas Joseph Fine Arts, New York, NY, USA
1996
il Cielo Contaminato, Salone Dugentesco, Vercelli and Trento, Italy
Le Dessin Automatique 1945-95, Portrieux and Plœuc-sur-Lié, Brittany (survey)
Phases of Desire, CASE Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (group)
1995
Le Dessin Automatique 1945-95, College Camille Claudel; St.Quay, Brittany
Vancouver: 1965-75, Vancouver Art Gallery (survey show)
Constellations, Surrealism and Its Affinities Carleton University, Ottawa
1992
Lumière du Jour/Lumière Noir, Galerie Lumière Noir, Montreal/Quebec
1986
Open Cages, Melmoth group, Pitt International Gallery, Vancouver
Exposicao Internacional Surrealismo e Pintura Fantástica, Teatro Iberico, Lisbon, Portugal
1985
West Coast Surrealists, Simon Fraser University Gallery, Burnaby, BC
1984
1982
Arteder 82, Bilbao, Spain (international survey)
1981
Associations, Galerie Surrealiste, Toronto
1980
On Canvas, SFU at Robson Square Media Centre, Vancouver (regional survey)
West Coast Surrealists, Gallery Move, Vancouver
1979
West Coast Surrealists & Paul Wunderlich, Bayard Gallery, Seattle
West Coast Surrealist Group, Hindenberg Gallery, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
WashArt ’79, Washington, D.C. (art fair)
Other Realities: The Legacy of Surrealism in Canadian Art, Agnes Etherington
Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario; Canada House, London, UK; Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris;
Paperworks: B.C. Collection, Canadian Cultural Centres, Paris; London, Brussels
1978
Surrealism Unlimited, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK, (international survey)
1977
From This Point Of View, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver (survey show)
West Coast Surrealist Group, Gallery Move, North Vancouver
1975
Pacific Rim Consciousness, SFU, Burnaby, BC; University of Malaysia (group)
1973
Canadian West Coast Hermetics Fine Arts Gallery, UBC; Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris; Canada House, London, UK; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium; McMaster University; McIntosh Gallery, U. Western Ontario; (group)
1972
The Private Patron, Vancouver Art Gallery, Burnaby (local survey)
1971
Vancouver School of Collage, Fine Arts Gallery, UBC
1970
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Colour Optics: Burnaby Art Gallery , Burnaby. BC
1969
Intermedias, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC
Focus ’69, Bau-xi Gallery, Vancouver
3 person exhibition, Bau-xi Gallery (with Pierre Coupey and Ron Wattier)
1968
Spectrum ’68 Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver (local survey)
1967
Mandan Company Presents Western Supplies, Bau-xi Gallery, Vancouver
2026
Diving the Stone, drawings and collages with poetry by Scott Lawrance, Carbonation Press, Spokane, Washington
2025
Exile Editions ed. 42 32, Excelsis Group, Toronto
The Earth Is Our Home,, Bortoli Association, Maestra, Italy
2022
Nigredo (four works reproduced), Phasm Press, New York
2021
Surrealism Beyond Borders, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Tate Modern, Yale University Press
Patrick Lepetit, Aspects du Surrealism International Aujourd’Hui, Vocatif, Paris
Finding Nothing, The Vangardes,1959-1975, Gregory Betts, University of Toronto Press
2020:
Western Terrace, Allan Graubard, Ekstasis Press, pastels and collages
Little Guys, Ekstasis Press with poems by Scott Lawrance
2018
International Encyclopdia of Surrealism, Bloomsbury Press, London, (three volume set)
The Milkmaid, Leida Torck, The Netherlands, collages and poems by Wijnand Stemmers
2015
A Phala Vol. 2, Sao Paulo, Brazil (assorted paintings and works on paper)
2014
lI Surrealismo, leri e oggi, Arturo Shwarz, Milan
2013
Open Letter, Surrealism in Canada, Gregory Betts, Brock University Press
2012
Derrame, L'edicion especial hommenage a Cruzeiro Seixas, Santiago, Chile
2011: Caleidoscopio Surrealista, Una visión del surrealismo internacional-1919/2011, Miguel Corrales, Canary Islands, Spain
2010
Momentum, catalogue, Coast Art Trust, Vancouver
2009
El Umbral Secreto, catalogue, Museo Solidad de Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile
2008
O contrário do Olhar, catalogue, Casa de Cultura, Coimbra, Portugal
Classic Mode, A Reverie, Photographic study, New Arcadia Publishing, Vancouver
.2007
Um Postal Para Mario Cesariny, catalogue, Museu D. Dinis, Estremoz, Portugal
2005
West Coast Surreal, A Canadian Perspective, Museo Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (catalogue essay by the director, Natalia Segarra)
2003
Un Canadien expose Salle des Arts, Nice Matin, Nice, France
2001
Highlights im Lichthaus, Tiroliner, Innsbruck, Austria
Canadian Artist Expose a l'Aeroport de Nice, Le Petit Nicoise, Nice, France
2000
Driven to Abstraction, Janet Smith, The Georgia Straight, Vancouver
Gregg Simpson Expose, review of Dessins Selectionées, Seillans, Var-Matin,
A New Arcadia, photo and notices, International Herald Tribune, Milan, Italy.
Gregg Simpson at Studio Dieci, L'Informaffare, Notzia Oggi, Vercelli, Italy
1999
Superiore Inconnu (feature page) edited by Sarane Alexandrian, Paris
Master Painters Showcase, International Artist magazine, Sydney, Australia
Dizionario Antologico e Critico Di Poeti, scrittori e artisti italiani contemporanei, edizioni Tigullio- Bacherontius, Turin, Italy
1997
Il Volo Di Icaro Utopia, tra sogno e realta quotidiana, Turin, Italy
1995
José Pierre: In the Beginning – essay, Paris
1994
Constellations, Surrealism and Its Affinities, Carleton University (catalogue)
1991
Ann Rosenberg, Feature review: Tribal Dynamics, Vancouver Sun
1985
Carol M. Cram, Gregg Simpson: Works of Excavation & Transference, feature article, Terzoochio Magazine, Bologna, Italy.
Carol M. Cram: New Mythologies/Inner Landscapes: West Coast Surrealists Revisited, feature article: Vie Des Arts Magazine, Montreal
1983
José Pierre: L’Univers Surréaliste: Editions Somogy, Paris, France
Dr. David Burnett and Marilyn Schiff, Contemporary Canadian Painting, Hurtig, Edmonton
1982
Elisabeth Topp: Gregg Simpson at Galerie Surrealiste, artmagazine, Toronto
1980
Scott MacKillop: West Coast Surrealists: feature review, Artmagazine, Toronto
1979
Natalie Luckyj: Other Realities, The Legacy of Surrealism in Canadian Art (Catalogue essay, Queens University Press)
Gregg Simpson: West Coast Surrealist Group, Terzoochio, Magazine, Bologna, Italy
1978
Surrealism Unlimited, catalogue, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
1973
Joan Lowndes: Simpson’s Surrealistic Claws and Crescent Moons of Atlantis, review, Vancouver Sun.
Saturated Scenes, collage novella published, Intermedia Press, Vancouver
1972
Canadian Artists in Exhibition, Volume 2, Roundstone Press, Toronto
1971
Joan Lowndes: Surrealist Has Desert Mission: feature article, Vancouver Sun
Joan Lowndes: Review of Collage Show, UBC, Vancouver Sun
1968
Household Words, collages, blewointment press
1967:
Apocolips, collages and poems by Scott Lawrance, blewointment press
Bibliotheque Angelica, Rome
Museo-Fundacion Eugenio Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Cypress College, Los Angeles
Lord Eastleigh Foundation, Brussels
National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile
Museu Dom Dinis, Estrmoz, Portugal
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
Carleton University Art Gallery; Ottawa
BC Government Collection, Victoria, BC
City of Vancouver Collection, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC
Simon Fraser University Gallery, Burnaby, BC.
University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, North Vancouver
Vancouver General Hospital/UBC Foundation, Vancouver
In Studio
Concepts & More
The artist at work.
Still from A New Arcadia, The Art of Gregg Simpson, BRAVO TV, 2003
The artist at work.
My work is on the border between abstraction and surrealism, formal design and automatism. I often begin a work very spontaneously, often with the canvas lying on the ground and soaked with water to make the colors flow. Then I proceed to re-draw and mold the shapes, alternately adding and removing layers of paint to reveal the implicit imagery. Ultimately, the painting tells me how to resolve the final result, which may, or may not, correspond to anything in nature.
My paintings are usually improvised from the beginning, without a preliminary sketch. Their final form is arrived at through the direct application of paint. while elements of drawing are repeatedly allowed to appear and then are covered over again, until a final result emerges.
A work may evolve into a lyrical, atmospheric work, or one where formal structures of design suggest the figure, the landscape, or even still life, but re-interpreted into a purely imaginative realm, creating a personal, yet universal, world of forms, whose meaning changes with each viewer.
News From Artist
Modern Baroque opens at the MIIT Museum, October 23rd - November 7th, Corso Cairoli 4, Torino
One of two works in the group exhibition, "Artist's Emotions!" at Galeria Il Collezionista, Rome, Mar. 28th- April 7th, 2026
Prepared for the Bowen Art Tour, May 23rd and 24th, 2026, Bowen Island, BC.
Modern Baroque, Galeria Angelica, Rome, October, 2025
PRESS AND DOCS
Retrospective 1972-1984
Review of my Retrospective 1972-1984 at the Art Gallery of Algoma, 1984 in the Sault-Star, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Modern Baroque
Essay by Martina Scavone in Arte Borgo Promotional Brochure, Galeria Angelica, Rome, 2025
https://www.artrabbit.com/events/modern-baroque-by-gregg-simpson
Modern Ghosts Review
A feature review by Robert Linsley in Vanguard Magazine the Modern Ghosts exhibition in 1986 at the Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC.
Tribal Dynamics review
A feature review by Ann Rosenberg in the Vancouver Sun of Tribal Dynamics at the Gallery Alpha, West Vancouver, 1991.
Feature article in Arts Alive
A feature from Arts Alive, Vancouver periodical, 2006.