Simon Stone
Painting in Knysna

Welcome to the website of South African artist and painter Simon Stone. View a portfolio of his paintings, drawings and mosaics and follow Simon's diary for news on upcoming exhibitions and works in progress. The work of some artists lends itself to the most fluid of critical conversations. Coherent exegesis is not his strong suit and efforts at critical responses sometimes seem tantamount to imposing a linguistic grid on a dialect that defies verbiage. It speaks to itself in codes that are as inchoate as they are arcane. His wilful muteness, broken by unexpected spurts of eloquence are both symptom and consequence of the symbiosis between Stone and his work. We tend to be more comfortable with coherent big ideas. Stone's images, recurring motifs and painterly talismans are parts of more parts of parts. SMAC Art Gallery is pleased to present Thrown Together, an exhibition of new paintings by Simon Stone. Through the 70's and 80's, Stone earned the respect of many fellow artists as the poet of the inner city and the old mine dumps surrounding Johannesburg. The show will take place in Johannesburg next year. The majority of the drawings are exploratory, with spontaneity being the key. Some drawings stand alone, complete in their own delicacy. The themes are usually figurative, men and women, buildings and objects, on their own or in relation to landscapes or interiors. The character and nature of the drawings has changed over the years but the intention of this 'out put' has always been to satisfy the need to draw and to generate ideas for oil paintings.