Mixed Winter Exhibition - Paintings

Until 27 January 2020

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Deborah Jackson, born Bristol 1956, studied Fine Art at Exeter College of Art (1985 – 88), Deborah has maintained a dedicated career painting full-time. She has held numerous exhibitions in London; Glasgow; Oxfordshire; Devon; the Cotswolds; Nantucket Island, USA; Showing for the first time with David Simon Contemporary, Castle Cary September 2019.

George Dannatt (born 1915 died 2009) is regarded as much as a collector and connoisseur of Modern British Art as he was a painter himself.  He was the music critic for The News Chronicle in the 1940s and 50s. From 1956 his interest in painting took hold and from the early 1960s he began a long association with the Cornish painters, in particular John Wells, Denis Mitchell, Alexander Mackenzie and Roy Conn. From the early 1970s he became a member of the Penwith Society and the Newlyn Society and began to exhibit with both galleries. A three-man show, with Wells and Mackenzie, was held at the Orion Gallery, Penzance in 1975. He exhibited widely in London and the provinces, as well as in Germany and America. His numerous solo exhibitions culminated in three major shows at Osborne Samuel Gallery, London in 2005, 2008 and 2010.

In 2015 to celebrate the Centenary of Dannatt's birth, a number of major exhibitions were held around the country. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester held a show of both Dannatt's own work and the work of his artist friends, including Patrick Heron, Bryan Wynter, Terry Frost, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon, Ben Nicholson and many others. Katharine House Gallery held a large and highly successful exhibition of Dannatt's paintings, constructions, reliefs and collages from 20th June 2015, which was extended twice and resulted in more than 50 sales. Further exhibitions of Dannatt's work were held in 2015 at Southampton City Art Gallery, Dorset County Museum, Dorchester and at Osborne Samuel Gallery, London. Major retrospective exhibition of small paintings at David Simon Contemporary in March 2020.

Steven Hubbard, born in London in 1954, studied fine art at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design. He has taught fine art for over 30 years and has held regular one-man exhibitions in London. He regularly exhibits at the Royal Academy Summer Show and the Royal West of England Academy, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Hubbard has three different practices – linocut printmaking, painting and marquetry-based constructions.

Mike Service trained in Fine Art at Bath Spa University after taking early retirement from his first career. Over the past few years Mike Service has exhibited his paintings widely in the UK including in Bath London and at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. He has also undertaken a number of private commissioned works. We are delighted to have been representing Mike Service at our gallery for the past five years. Painting in oils with palette knife and brush, there is a spontaneity and speed to his work, which creates a lively and active composition with a carefully considered, limited colour palette. Taking inspiration from Nicolas de Stael, Service has an adept talent with his palette knife and it is his clever approach to semi-figurative painting that keeps his paintings always full of constant interest to the viewer. Whether painting still-life subjects or the landscapes of Ile de Ré, Salema or the Somerset hills, one is always struck by the artist’s clear enjoyment and skill of handling paint. First solo exhibition with David Simon Contemporary 2019.

Born in Guildford in 1935, Diana Matthews FRSA studied Fine Art at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham from 1954 – 1956. Here she was trained by William Scott as well as visiting lecturers including Antony Fry, Peter Lanyon, Bryan Winter, Adrian Heath and Gillian Ayres. She went on to teach art at various secondary schools. In 1985 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art. It was only when Diana retired in 1995 that she was able to concentrate fully on painting full-time and to focus on painting still life and abstract work. Diana Matthews has exhibited regularly in London and the South West including at 20/21 Royal College of Art (2014), Islington Art Fair (2013), Bath Art Society (2005/06/09/10/11/13), Olympia Decorative and Contemporary Art Fair (2011), Battersea Park Decorative and Contemporary Art Fair (2011/12), Art London (2011), Royal West of England Academy (2007/08), and Royal Society of British Artists (2007/11). Represented by David Simon Contemporary, Bath since September 2014.

Lawrence Quigley studied at The Laird School of Art, Birkenhead (1971-72) and Loughborough College of Art and Design (1973-76) and achieved a B.A. Hons. Degree in Fine Art, Painting and Printmaking.  He attended the Royal AcademySchools, Royal Academy of Arts, London (1977-80) attaining a M.A. Fine Art, Painting and Printmaking (RAS). Lawrence's work is rooted within the figurative tradition of British and European Painting. Much of the imagery is performance or literature related and inspired, observing the world as a potential stage for the scenes and dramas that echo human experience and behaviour. The landscape works are engaged with the manipulation and enjoyment of paint, endeavouring to capture the ' spirit or mood of place' - evoked by particular lighting or weather conditions within our environment and the world around us.  The romantic fervour of Turner and Constable in their immediacy and direct response to the landscape is prominent in the depiction of the fleeting atmospheric changes that occur in the British landscape.  Lawrence has exibited extensively throughout the United Kingdom in both one man and group shows and he has been the winner of many artistic awards.

Trained at Bath Academy of Art, Jean Melville Rose is a prolific painter of frescoes in the true sense (buon fresco) as used by the Ancient Pompeians and many of her Still Life subjects retain broadly Classical influences such as Pompeian and Georgian vessels, bowls, and arrangements. Rose’s solo exhibitions since 1960s have shown in Bath, Cambridge, London, Madrid, California and Mexico. Rose’s work can be found in various public collections, including, Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles; Kettles Yard Museum, Cambridge. Notable private collectors include E.M.Forster; Vincent Price, amongst others.