Simon McWilliams

Works
Biography
Simon McWilliams
"Simon McWilliams is a highly independent artist, whose work is shaped above all by his absorption in paint and the significance of the painting process. For him, this medium itself is transformative and his work demonstrates that it can be a part of life as significant as the subject it describes, a continual assertion of the importance of painting and its unique attributes and possibilities." - Dr. Dickon Hall (2020)

Born in 1970 in Belfast, Simon McWilliams trained initially at Ulster University, before moving on to the Royal Academy School in London.

 

McWilliams uses the notion of a painting being a 'window onto the world', then, by adding the compositional device of a window frame, the viewer becomes a part of that view; looking out or looking in.

 

Inspired in part by Bonnard, Japanese Byobu screens, and the sheer juiciness of oil paint, the paintings are attractive abstractions that reveal the artist's relationship with the places that fascinate him.

 

In 2022, McWilliams was awarded the Royal Ulster Academy's Perpetual Gold Medal at the Ulster Museum for the best work by an Academician, his work is also included in various public and private collections such as The Ulster Museum, Bank of Ireland, ESB, and Queens University Belfast.

 

These textured and colourful paintings can only be fully appreciated in the flesh, which allows you to experience the full range of their surfaces.

Exhibitions