Simon Welsh

Simon Welsh
Sydney, Australia

STATEMENT

Looking past the obvious forms of beauty, deconstruction, and self-reflection of the subject is my process. The challenge is to see beyond the traditional forms I use and to relate a new message to a new audience. Some of my subjects are quite beautiful, others less so, but inspire audiences to see my work as more than a beautiful image and instead as a call to action. I ask the audience to look more carefully at the world around them and discover beauty in the queerest of forms.

I often use natural elements and religious iconography symbolising my personal thoughts and inner turmoils. Organically morphing images in a way to question the attitudes, stigmas and unwritten rules of my LGBTQI+ experience.

BIO

I am a trained graphic designer and currently employed as a librarian based in Sydney, Australia. Surrounded by print and design I organically fell into making art with paper. I have been practicing collage for 3 years. Self taught, my work reflects mostly what I am thinking, feeling, and discovering about being a collage artist. I began entering art prizes in 2019 and was a finalist in 4 major prizes in Australia. This gave me the confidence to explore more and push the creative boundaries.

I will be in a book on contemporary artists in 2020 in Australia as well as my first group exhibition in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. I feel my progress as an artist is based on ticking off boxes and gaining more confidence in the collage art form.

ARTIST CONTACT

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society6.com/hipsterdirtbag

IMAGES