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Pop Psychedelic
Series
1967-69
The
paintings, drawings, and collages which Simpson made between 1967 and 1969
were
a period
of apprenticeship with Vancouver artist, Gary
Lee Nova,
who was just back from studying
in the UK when
Simpson
met him and began collaborating together on
multi media projects
with
the Al Neil Trio at the Sound Gallery.
Before meeting Lee
Nova, Simpson had worked on a series of hard edge geometric
paintings influenced
by the European artists of the
early 60s such as Victor Vasarely, Richard Moretensen and Arturo
Bonfanti. See Neo-Cubism,
(below):
Neo-Cubism, oil on canvas, 1965
Lee Nova,
however, had made
a unique synthesis of west coast funk and Tantric
geometry rendered
in
simplified forms and cartoon colours. In the Tantric
Series Simpson shows
his other main influence of the period, artist Jack Wise.
From 1967-68,
Simpson
worked alongside
Lee Nova in the next studio
in an old bulding on
Powell St.,
later known as the New Era Social Club. There, Simpson
experimented with shapes like elongated
diamonds,
or pyramids, with rainbows and Op Art polka dots, a kind of Pop
lanndscape painting.
This was also the
period of the Mandan
Ghetto Gallery in Kitsilano, started
by bill bissett,
Joy
Long and Simpson in 1968. This collective gallery had exhibitions of
collage, painting
and concrete poetry during
its short existence.
Download
a Complete Retrospective
All
Images © Gregg
Simpson
Please request
permission
if you wish to use an image
you find on
this site. Last
updated: Ocotber 6, 2007
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