Simon Garden was born in Middlesex in 1960 and studied Fine Art at Exeter School of Art and Design in 1982 where he obtained a First Class BA(Hons), and in 2002 he was elected as an Academician by the Royal West of England Academy, Exeter College of Art and Design. He has been a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and the Royal West of England Academy where he was one of the youngest artists to be nominated. He works entirely in oil on board. Simon is now based in Bristol.
Simon Garden's paintings are products of an extraordinary imagination. Exciting and original, they draw the viewer into a world of dreams, faintly surreal, odd, yet at the same time familiar. His rich earth colours are applied with thick brush strokes, giving a depth of texture on the surface like the furrows in a ploughed field.
“Pure imagination is what drives Simon Garden's fantastic ideas. Mix it with humour and invention stirred with a with a strong element of mystery, rich colour and thick impasto, you create a powerful result. His work is simply unique. There are nods towards artists who have influenced his work, Breughel and Stanley Spencer for example, have a special relevance. Fantastical architecture reaches for the sky, small figures dwarfed by mighty structures resembling conventional buildings, but not quite. Houses balancing on cliff edges, strange gardens and figures balancing precariously on tall ladders in danger of falling off. This is the fascinating world of Simon Garden, and long may it last.” Brian Sinfield
