Joe Simpson (born 4 May 1984) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

figurative painter based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. His work is influenced by

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

to create frozen scenes detached from a wider context. His work has been shown internationally, including in the National Portrait Gallery,

The Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, Air Gallery, The Hospital (Covent Gardens) and Manchester Art Gallery. In 2009 Simpson’s first major exhibition ‘Almost There’ launched. Simpson collaborated with twelve bands and solo artists (including

The Miserable Rich The Miserable Rich are a string-led band, formed in 2007 and based in Brighton, England. The band has a chamber orchestra sound, created using cello and violin as the primary lead instruments, augmented by double bass, acoustic guitar and occasion ...

Nizlopi Nizlopi were an English folk and alternative duo formed in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, by Luke Concannon on vocals, guitar, and bodhrán, and John Parker on double bass, human beatbox, and backing vocals. History Formation The duo grew u ...

, The Voluntary Butler Scheme, New Cassettes and Jose Vanders) to create a series of paintings that have an accompanying original soundtrack. Each painting had a song written specifically for that piece, inspired by the scene and composed to complement the mood of the image. The paintings were exhibited with headphones beside them, so that you could simultaneously listen to the music and view the image. The visual and audio components come together to create one new piece of art. In 2011 Simpson produced a series of portraits of famous musicians, with subject including

Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist, best known as the lead singer, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers. In addition to his ...

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, R ...

Ezra Koenig Ezra Michael Koenig ( ; born April 8, 1984) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, producer, and internet radio personality. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Additio ...

(

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson ...

Maxi Jazz Maxwell Fraser (14 June 1957 – 23 December 2022), better known by his stage name Maxi Jazz, was a British musician, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ. He was the lead vocalist of British electronic band Faithless from 1995 to 2011 and 2015 ...

( Faithless),

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, '' Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sin ...

, Matt Berninger ( The National), Sam Beam ( Iron & Wine) and

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

. The exhibition launched in a pop up in Soho and then was displayed as a solo exhibition at

. Simpson's portrait of

( Faithless) was shortlisted for the

BP Portrait Award The BP Portrait Award is an annual portraiture competition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. It is the successor to the John Player Portrait Award. It is the most important portrait prize in the world, and is reputedly ...

and exhibited at The National Portrait Gallery. His next major series of paintings was titled 'Across America' and depicted scenes from the artist's trip in the United States. The paintings were exhibited at Reuben Colley Fine Arts in Birmingham in 2013. Since 2014 Simpson has been working on a new project entitled 'Act', where he is painting a series of British actors in their dream role. He is asking each actor, 'what role have you always wanted to play but have never got the chance?' and then he creates a narrative painting depicting them playing that part. These roles may be from scripts that never got made, or characters from novels or plays that they would love to play, or any other interpretations of the question. So far he has painted

Paddy Considine Patrick George Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He frequently collaborates with filmmaker/director Shane Meadows. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard Brit ...

Warwick Davis Warwick Ashley Davis (born 3 February 1970) is an English actor. He played the title character in ''Willow'' (1988) and the ''Leprechaun'' film series (1993–2003), several characters in the ''Star Wars'' film series (1983–2019), most nota ...

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...

, Olivia Colman, Eleanor Tomlinson and

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Britain'' (2003–2006, 2020) and '' Come Fl ...

for the series. Image:Joe_Simpson_Painting.jpg, Oil on Canvas 2007

References

External links

Joe Simpson Official WebsiteNME - Joe Simpson's Paintings of Rock StarsPitchfork Review 'Ezra Koenig, Matt Berninger, Sam Beam Immortalized in Oil Paintings' 2011
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20111222095913/http://blog.topman.com/2011/10/musician-portraits-by-joe-simpson.html Topman Contribute - Musician Portraits by Joe Simpsonbr>Under The Radar 'Popular Musicians and Songwriters Become Oil Paintings' 2011BBC Manchester Feature 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Joe 1984 births Living people 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters People from Lancaster, Lancashire 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists