ARTWORK | PROJECTS | TIMELINE / BIO | CONTACT / SHOP
Collection Simon Paul
R O G E R A C K L I N G
M A X I N E A T T A R D
T H O R U N N B J O R N S D O T T I R
R O B E R T C A L L E N D E R
A U S T I N C A M I L L E R I
D A V I D C A S S
M I C H A E L C R A I K
T A C I T A D E A N
I A N H A M I L T O N F I N L A Y
M I C H E L E F L E T C H E R
D A N H I L L I E R
N O R I O I M A I
S T E P H E N K A V A N A G H
J A M I E K I N R O Y
P E T E R L I V E R S I D G E
K A O R I M A T S U M U R A
N I K A N E E L O V A
E L I Z A B E T H O G I L V I E
C O R N E L I A P A R K E R
K A T I E P A T E R S O N
T O N Y P O R T E L L I
G E R H A R D R I C H T E R
N I A L S T E V E N S O N
I did not set out to become an art collector. I simply needed an inspiring beacon of art.
I recall the sense of purpose and thrill when I purchased 100 Billion Suns, 2011 and All the Dead Stars, 2012 by Katie Paterson. At the time (2012) I did not want these works as much as I felt that I needed them - works by an artist who for me defiened the best aspects of contemporary art, as a reality that I still wanted to be part of.
I had to learn the importance of art confrontation - i.e. being challenged by art. This has encouraged me to acquire further works that would equally challenge and support me. The art works engage with reality in a conceptual, physical, spiritual manner and their aesthetic is informed by their own process. At times there is a personal connection between these artists and myself.
Early on I had considered this art just for my personal use, but by 2013, I started to envisage these works as the driving force behind my project 73 | 75 | 77. This is when I considered the possibility of a collection.
In the latter part of 2013, my partner was living through an incurable cancer. One day in his attemtps at joie de vivre he surprised me with a limited edition of a signed publication of Gerhard Richter’s November. We considered the exising artworks up to that point and I managed to convince my partner to name this art collection afer his name. Simon Paul MacFadyen died on the 12th February 2014 at the age of 38.
Since then, collecting art has taken on a deeper meaning - that of corresponding through life, which for me still links with the project 73 | 75 | 77. The latter has become a contemplative work journey on the potential power of retreat and where art can arrest.
I remember such arrest when I walked the labyrinthine path of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and was confronted by Chaïm Soutine’s, Le Mas Passe-Temps, Céret, 1920 -1921. I am grateful that though I cannot afford to own a Soutine, I was not denied this experience.
Collection Simon Paul is characterised by the possibility of a connection and a sensibility humanity can have with its environment and itself. It treasures the accessible and inclusive aspects of art and in turn aims to offer such accessibility and inclusivity.