About Simon Haddock

We leave traces of ourselves everywhere. Sometimes we mean to, but more often, and more interestingly the marks we leave are a by-product of our convictions and inclinations. Scuffs, smudges, tyre marks, dusty corners, footprints and spillages are an inadvertent narrative of who we are. Taking these casual gestures, I explore how they can become a method of painting, and in themselves materials of construction. In this process I see kind of archeological exploration of everyday compulsions.

In the studio I paint, saw, drill, sand, scrape and rout my works into existence with hands on material  directness. The result is less the doing and more the by product of this material process. I am making space , but doing so with a very physical approach to the painting’s surface. I’m interested when this direct action is consumed by it’s aftermath and there is a a kind of spatial realignment of active and discarded gestures.

I look at building sites, the rectilinear landscape of car parks, the contained yet expansive stretch of motorway experience. I’m interested in places that undermine our conventional sense of belonging. The material and space in my painting hovers between a kind of modern technicolour disquiet and romantic absorption.