Western Morning News (Saturday)
The joys of everyday life
FRANK RUHRMUND features a Lowry protege whose work looks mainly on the bright side
For the latest in its Featured Artist series of solo exhibitions, the Whitewater Gallery, Polzeath, presents a collection of colourful, happy-golucky compositions by the inimitable Penwith-based painter Simeon Stafford. One who was born in the small northern town of Dukinfield near Manchester, his career in art began very early when he had the good fortune to meet and to be encouraged to paint by none other than one of that city’s most celebrated sons L.S. Lowry. He happened to be a customer at the green grocery shop Simeon’s mother Jean had in Hyde, and would become a friend of the Stafford family and, not surprisingly, also a considerable influence upon her son. Although he attended Hyde College for a while he is largely self-taught, and while he owes something to his sometime mentor Lowry, his paintings remain firmly his own work. Indeed, his figures are happier and are seen to be having more fun than any of those in Lowry’s work. I once said that those who recall the excitement engendered when taken to the beach, the joy as a child of being on holiday, might not only recognise themselves in his paintings, but might also identify with, even catch, the artist’s infectious joie de vivre. One who definitely and defiantly looks on the bright side of life, he offers an antidote to the miseries of Covid 19.
There may well be an element of escapism in his compositions but, refreshingly, there is no trace of anything remotely resembling a message in them. The problems that beset us all at the moment, whether of a domestic, emotional, financial, political or pandemic nature, like caution, are thrown to the wind, and Simeon Stafford invites his viewer to simply join him in enjoying what could be called his “eat,drink and be merry” paintings. Since coming to Cornwall 25 years or so ago he has exhibited widely in the county as well as in the capital where he has been part of the Royal Academy’s Summer Show. His paintings feature on the BBC “Your Paintings – uncovering the Nation’s art collection” website and are also to be found in any number of collections from Tony Blair’s to the Queen’s. As naughty as they are nice, as irresistible as they are imaginative, from such works as Polzeath Regatta and Padstow Harbour to Happy Holidays, there is no denying the pleasure he derives from depicting everyday people enjoying everyday things. Life for Simeon Stafford is definitely for living. Having said all this about his amusing and heart-warming approach to life, he surprises with the first showing of a new series relating to Cornwall’s mining heritage. From Mine to Miners at Work, there is little colour in these. A long way, in fact, from those of his pictures defined by their uplifting palette of rainbow colours and high energy surfaces that reflect the masses at play, these instead, while recognising and paying homage to the busy and amazing life once lived underground in Cornwall, also reveal the more compassionate side of the artist’s nature, the realisation that life, neither yesterday’s nor today’s, is ever all fun and games.
Dazzling, delightful and well worth a detour, these works by Simeon Stafford can be seen in the Whitewater Gallery, The Parade, Polzeath, until May 30.