Glossop artist Simon Parkin looks back over 20 years

A Glossop artist is inviting local people to take a journey through 20 years of painting when his retrospective exhibition, 'So Far', comes to Victoria Hall. 

Simon Parkin is an established artist whose work is widely collected throughout the UK and abroad. He has exhibited his work nationally since 1995 and has a studio and gallery on High Street East in Glossop, where his paintings can be viewed by appointment. His work can also be viewed at www.simonparkin.co.uk  

The So Far exhibition, which takes place on Saturday 10th October and Sunday 11th October, presents a selection of paintings produced over the past 20 years, reflecting the evolution of Simon’s work and the changing influences that have shaped his career.  

Open from 10am to 5pm on both days, the exhibition features early abstract-influenced pieces, landscapes and seascapes, paintings inspired by India, and more recent figurative work.  

Simon’s work has evolved from an initial abstract approach exploring memories and emotion, towards a more objective approach through representations of the landscape and the figure, while occasionally returning to abstraction. Throughout these different periods, his focus has remained on creating a deep and immersive connection with his subject matter, whether it is the Peak District, places he has visited, the human form or abstract ideas.  

Rather than simply presenting a collection of paintings, So Far offers an opportunity to see how Simon’s approach and inspirations have developed over the years.  

“My painting derives from the need to connect to the environment - to absorb, listen, question and investigate through the painting process” Simon explains. “There is a continual dialogue within the paintings as I feel my way through the layers of paint, capturing what I see, think and feel.”  

Places and the experience of being in them remain an important source of inspiration for Simon. While he occasionally makes painting sketches and takes photographs for reference, he also spends prolonged periods of time in places, absorbing their atmosphere and character. Memory plays an important part too, with the finished paintings developing from a combination of observation, recollection, feelings and thoughts.  

Ultimately, the paintings are concerned not only with the subject itself, but with the layers of feeling and thought within the piece. Simon describes his expressive approach as a way of engaging deeply with his subject matter and infusing the work with feelings of wonder, excitement, uncertainty, fragility and loss.  

His paintings explore both the act of painting itself and aspects of the human condition and the transitory nature of life. He aims to create works containing what he describes as “raw exposed moments”, allowing the viewer to become part of the experience and bring their own thoughts and visual narrative to the work.  

Simon says he would be delighted to welcome visitors to So Far, where they can enjoy a drink, meet the artist and take a look back at how his paintings and inspirations have developed over the past two decades.