“CONFLUENCE’ is a collaborative exhibition between painter Simon Glascott and ceramic artist Nicky Cooney

Simon Glascott in an emerging artist who lives and works in Sydney. He has studied drawing and painting at TAFE college and attended painting courses with artists Ashley Frost and Nicole Kelly. Simon has been a finalist in several Art prizes in the last 2 years.

“Nicky and I thought this exhibition would be a good idea to combine the earthy colours and textures of her ceramics with my landscape painting which has a similar colour palette.

These paintings are almost all painted relatively recently or during the lockdown when I had the opportunity to notice, almost like for the first time, where I lived and my surroundings. Whether it was a particular tree chanced upon during a walk, or revisiting creeks and waterways around Kuringgai, I felt I was paying more attention.

Painting landscape for me is simply an exercise in conveying an experience of place. Ben Quilty says it is a “transfer of feeling” which sums it up. I hope the paintings will be recognised for the moments created by a landscape rather than a didactic rendition of the landscape as a physical presence. Stylistically, I tend to drift a bit from a tonalist approach to more expressionistic methods (and back again).

I hope you enjoy the exhibition.”