Ving Simpson: 'Inside Out: Art from the Oceanside Studio, 1994-2023'

About the exhibition:
A colorful mix of symbolic forms, representations of abstract thought, and expressions of shared universal mysteries are at the heart of the work Ving Simpson created for more than twenty years at his home studio in Oceanside. The installation is a nonlinear representation of years of creative artistic endeavors, processes, and materials crafted with primal and soulful qualities. A central focus of the gallery is a recreation of the shelves that lined the artist’s studio, displaying an array of small, emblematic sculptures. The objects and compositions are minimal in form, often consisting of repeating patterns in rows and columns. They are constructed from a variety of traditional and non-traditional materials including silver, bronze, wood, metal, tar paper, found objects, and glazed and unglazed clay bodies.

Select paintings will also illustrate the artist’s explorations into his perceptions of reality, primarily a series of large banners in the museum’s Grand Stairwell exploring artistic interpretations of water as liquid, gas, and solid. His first painting on canvas, Dancing Nuns painted in 1994, will also feature prominently as an homage to the complexities of interpersonal relationships and how they may inspire an impulse to expand creative horizons.

This is the work of a dedicated artist–a maker of well-crafted art objects inspired by a mix of art history, science, and a personal mythology, woven together in an attempt to understand the subtle and sublime mysteries of reality. Simpson says about his practice, “The human path is one of symbols and abstractions. Lacking the facility to fathom the intricacies and mathematics of modern cosmology, I choose to explore the order of the universe using a few simple tools and my intuition.”

Curated by Vallo Riberto.

Exhibition celebration: 5-7 p.m. Mar. 30.

Related links:
Oceanside Museum of Art: website | Instagram | Facebook