Simon Pontin

Artist Statement

Born in Westville, Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in 1969.

Matriculated with a distinction in Art from Westville Boy’s High School 1986.

Completed National Higher Diploma in Fine Art: Painting 1991

Nominated for Emma Smith Scholarship.

Studied Jazz part time 1991.

Played music professionally as a session bass player, as well as original bands.

Please note that during all of this time, I have been producing visual art in one form or the other, be it graphic design or paintings and drawings. I have a collection of paintings in storage in South Africa ready for exhibition. I will be shipping them to my current residence in Edinburgh in 2009 if I do not find a gallery or private buyers/collection to house them.

My general manifest is not complicated at all:

My aim as an artist is to produce as much quality, experience based artworks as possible. I loosely adhere to the principles of Transpersonal Art. I believe that art is, in its archetypal form, a means for Man to transcend the obvious and the physical, manifesting the spiritual reality of himself. I believe that through the process of creating my work, and the materials and meditation employed, a transmutation of substance occurs. This process is a spiritual journey, a process of cleansing and healing that even though mostly misunderstood by myself, leaves me with a sense of connection to the world around me, and a general feeling of well being.

My creative process generally involves working on at least 4 to 5 artworks at one time, each piece evolving and interacting with each other. Often smaller individual pieces become incorporated into bigger pieces, resulting in multi facets of meaning and imagery. Some pieces evolve over many months, even years, the ageing and deterioration of substances and materials manifesting the creative process over time.

Currently, I have the research and preamblings of up to 3 or 4 series of new paintings/images and I believe that I am capable of producing at least another complete show of work over the next year or so. This does not include the current show I am currently ready to exhibit.

I currently have 3 pieces in a private collection in Greece.