Gregg Simpson is a Canadian artist living on Bowen Island in British Columbia. He is known for his colorful, abstract works, many inspired by surrealist traditions. His work has been included in hundreds of solo and group exhibitions starting in the 1960s and including museums and galleries in Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America. Numerous academic studies, art history books and journals published in Canada, Europe and Australia feature his work. Simpson is also included in several historical surveys on surrealism.
Simpson was born in Ottawa in 1947 and moved to Vancouver at the age of six months. His father was the noted architect D.C. Simpson who instilled in him his love of shape and form. His mother, Ferne Cairns, was a professional concert singer who fostered his love of music and appreciation for travel and art. He grew up in the mid-century modern home that his father designed in West Vancouver. The house bordered the dense forests of the Capilano Canyon area that he roamed through as a boy. This background is the foundation for the numerous landscape elements incorporated into his work.
In 2003, a nationally broadcast documentary was made for BRAVO TV on his life and work, A New Arcadia: The Art of Gregg Simpson reviews his background in the Vancouver art scene of the 1960s and 1970s and includes an footage of a solo exhibition at the Fortezza di Montalcino in Tuscany, Italy, in 2000.
Canadian West Coast Hermetics Fine Arts Gallery, UBC; Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris; Ste. Brieuc, Brittany;Canada House,London, UK; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Belgium; McMaster University; McIntosh Gallery, U. Western Ontario; (group)
Claw Series, Galerie Allen, Vancouver (solo)
1972
The Private Patron,Vancouver Art Gallery, Burnaby (local survey)
Paintings and Collages, Open Space Gallery, Victoria (solo)
1971
Vancouver School of Collage, Fine Arts Gallery, UBC (local survey show)
1970
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Ontario (group)
Colour Optics: Burnaby Art Gallery (local survey)
1969
Normal Constants, Simon Fraser University (solo)
Intermedias, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (group)
Focus ’69, Bau-xi Gallery, Vancouver (group)
Three 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, (group)
Academic Studies and Databases
2005
Surrealism and Mediology in English Canada, Université J.V. Picardie, Amiens, Prof. Yves Laroque
2001
Essay on the New Arcadia series, by Prof. AntonioMalmo, Accademia Tiberina, Rome
1996
The Idea of Surrealism in English Canada, by Prof. Yves Laroque, Sorbonne, Paris
1981
José Pierre: Surrealism in Canada, Université Rabelais de Tours, France
Canadian Art Database, Concordia University, Montreal.
B.C. Artists, Sim Publishing, Victoria
Books, Periodicals, Reviews, Catalogues
2022
Nigredo (four works reproduced), Phasm Press, New York
2021
Surrealism Beyond Borders, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Tate Modern, London, Yale University Press
Patrick Lepetit, Aspects du Surrealism International Aujourd’Hui, Vocatif, Paris
2020
Western Terrace, Allan Graubard,pastels and collages, Ekstasis Press, Victoria
Little Guys,line drawings with poems by Scott Lawrance, Ekstasis Press.
2018
International Encyclopdia of Surrealism, Bloomsbury Press, London, (three volume set) The Milkmaid, Leida Torck, The Netherlands, collages and poems by Wijnand Stemmers
Pastel and Pen, New Arcadia Publishing, pastels with stories by Carol M. Cram
2015
A Phala Vol. 2, Sao Paulo, Brazil (assorted paintings and works on paper)
2014
Il Surrealismo, leri e oggi, Arturo Shwarz, Skira, Milan
2013
Open Letter, Surrealism in Canada, Gregory Betts, Brock University Press
Gregg Simpson, The Atlantean Years: 1970-1975, Museu D. Dinis, Estremoz, and the Museu Regional de Beja, Portugal (catalogues)
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
Out of the Woods, catalogue essay by Astrid Heyerdahl, Evergreen Cultural Centre
2010
Momentum, catalogue, Coast Art Trust, Vancouver
2009
El Umbral Secreto, catalogue, Museo Solidad de Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile
O contrário do Olhar, catalogue, Casa de Cultura, Coimbra, Portugal
Classic Mode, A Reverie, Photographic study, New Arcadia Publishing.
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)
2000
Un Canadien expose Salle des Arts, Nice Matin, Nice, France
Highlights im Lichthaus, Tiroliner, Innsbruck, Austria
Canadian Artist Expose a l’Aeroport de Nice, Le Petit Nicoise, Nice, France
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
In the Beginning, José Pierre, essay, privately published, North Vancouver
1994
Constellations, Surrealism and Its Affinities, Carleton University (catalogue)
1991
Tribal Dynamicsat Gallery Alpha, Ann Rosenberg, feature review:, Vancouver Sun
1985
Gregg Simpson: Works of Excavation & Transference,, Carol M. Cram, feature article, Terzoochio Magazine, Bologna, Italy.
New Mythologies/Inner Landscapes: West Coast SurrealistsRevisited, Carol M. Cram, feature article: Vie Des Arts Magazine, Montreal
1983
L’Univers Surréaliste José Pierre:: Editions Somogy, Paris, France (text, bio and two illustrations)
Contemporary Canadian Painting, Dr. David Burnett and Marilyn Schiff,Hurtig, Edmonton
1982
Gregg Simpson at Galerie Surrealiste, Elisabeth Topp, Artmagazine, Toronto
1980
West Coast Surrealists, Scott MacKillop,Artmagazine, Toronto
1979
Other Realities, The Legacy of Surrealism in Canadian Art, Natalie Luckyj,, Queens University Press, (Catalogue essay)
West Coast Surrealist Group, Gregg Simpson, Terzoochio, Bologna, Italy
1978
Surrealism Unlimited, catalogue, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
1973
Simpson’s Surrealistic Claws and Crescent Moons of Atlantis, Joan Lowndes:, feature article, Vancouver Sun.
Saturated Scenes, collage novella, Intermedia Press, Vancouver
1972
Canadian Artists in Exhibition, Volume 2, Roundstone Press, Toronto
1971
Joan Lowndes:Surrealist Has Desert Mission: feature article, Vancouver Sun
1968
Household Words, collages, blewointment press
1967
Apocolips, collages and poems by Scott Lawrance, blewointment press
Collections
Museo-Fundacion Eugenio Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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
Evergreen Cultural Centre Gallery, Coquitlam, BC
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, North Vancouver
Vancouver General Hospital/UBC Foundation, Vancouver
Awards
2003
Canada Council Travel Grant for solo exhibitions in Spain and France
Diplôme d’Honneur, Associations des Artistes de Colomars, Colomars, France
2001
Made anAcademicien Correspondant, Accademia Internazionale Greci Marino, Vercelli, Italy.
Department. of Foreign Affairs and International Trade grant for solo exhibitions in France and Italy.
2000
Canadian Federal Govt. (DFAIT )grant for solo exhibitions in France and Italy
1976
Canada Council Short Term Grant: Video
1972
Canada Council Materials Grant: Painting
1971
Canada Council Arts Bursary: Painting & Research in Europe
1968
Canada Council Short Term Grant: Painting
DOCUMENTARIES
2005
CBC Radio feature on West Coast Surreal exhibition in Spain.
2003
A New Arcadia, the Art of Gregg Simpson,Fountain Productions for Bravo TV
CURATORIAL
2005
West Coast Surreal: A Canadian Perspective, Fundacion Granell, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (four person group show)
Abstraction et Figuration, Maison des Artistes, Chateau Grimaldi, Cagnes-sur-Me France (five person international group show)
1996
Pnina Granirer 1957-97, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC
1991
Fertility Rites, Gallery Alpha, West Vancouver (group)
Fantastic Visions, Gallery Alpha (group);
Rainforests of the Mind, Gallery Alpha;
Geometric Expressionism (group)
1989
Western Patterns, Sinclair Centre, Vancouver (group)
1979
Four Photo Process Artists, Gallery Move, North Vancouver
1973
Canadian West Coast Hermetics, The Metaphysical Landscape (with Alvin Balkind) UBC Fine Arts Gallery; Centre Culturel, Paris; Canada House, London, UK; St.Brieuc, Brittany; McMaster University, Hamilton; University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
ARTS ORGRANIZATIONS AND PROJECTS
1965
Founder of the Sound Gallery and participated in Motion Studio (1966) and Intermedia (1967-73) referred to as the “Golden Age’ of multi-media in Vancouver
1968
Co-founder of the Mandan Ghetto Gallery, Vancouver
1977
Co-founded the West Coast Surrealist Group, Gallery Move, North Vancouver
Co-founder of New Orchestra Workshop, Vancouver
1991
Curator of Gallery Alpha, West Vancouver
1992
Heritage Committee to save the Vancouver Public Library
1995
Urban Issues Committee, Vancouver Community Arts Council
2005
Co-founder of the Coast Art Trust Society
2019
Board member of the Bowen Island Museum and Archives
VIDEO/ EXHIBITIONS
1984
Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (solo installation)
1977
From This Point of View, Vancouver Art Gallery (group)
1976
Video From Kitsilano, Image Forum, Tokyo, Japan (group)
1975
CAYC International Video Exhibition, Museo d’Arte Moderna,Caracas, Venezuela (international group show)