The Artist
One look at his website, and you could be forgiven for wondering
who Simon Cooper is, as there's no reference whatever to his
name. He styles himself "JourneyBoy", (all
of his artwork is signed thus), and he is equally enigmatic
about his background or on letting us see his face. However,
Simon was born in Manchester, currently lives in Cheadle in
the south of the city, and is presently working on paintings
that include some local landscape features.
His works
reflect his deep interest in ancient standing stones and places,
and the new works featured on his website gallery are based
on the stone circles of Callanish. His colours are soft, effusive
and fugitive, and seem to the observer to reflect a deep sense
of the mysticism and spirituality of places. Simon says of his
work:
"The
more I paint these stones, the more I want to paint them -
though its not easy to convey textured oil paint as solid
rock, grooved and weathered, curved and angular - yet I wish
to combine what has already inspired myself in previous works
with what intrigues and fascinates me today. To mix emotional
intensity, colour and symbols of ancient mystery that are
secrets within us all - to make sense of past and present
- for the future."
It's only
recently that paintings containing stones as a central part
of the landscape/mindscape theme have appeared in his work.
He maintains that years of research - reading books, (not always
about stones, but relative; interlinked and connected), visiting
sites and observing the ceremonial landscape - have ultimately
percolated through and gradually emerged in his work. An extensive
gallery of these intriguing paintings can be found on his website,
where many of the works presented are offered on sale.
JourneyBoy
may be contacted in the following ways:
Telephone:
0845 125 9427.
Fax: 0161-491 4031.
Post: PO Box 139, Cheadle SK8 4XL.
Despite
being alive and active at the original time of writing, the
following contact details seem to be currently offline or unavailable:
Email:
artist@journeyboy.com
Website: www.journeyboy.com
