Gregg Simpson

Gregg Simpson
, 1947

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

Bio

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.

Education

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

Solo Exhibitions

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

Group Exhibitions

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

Bibliography

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

Collections

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

Collective painting session, Espinho, Portugal, 2012

Working on gouache and pastels in Gordes, Provence.

Working on collages, 1972

Working on a new canvas

At work in Rouges-en-verts, Studio, Normandy

Scene from A New Arcadia, The Art of Gregg Simpson

Working on Mediterranean Still Life

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.