Simeon Stafford
Simeon Stafford was born in Manchester in 1956. He is widely viewed as one of the leading living naive artists in the country, painting loosely in the tradition of LS Lowry, Alan Lowndes and Fred Yates. He charmingly combines reality and imagination, through vibrant colours and amusing compositions. In recent years, demand for his paintings has risen steadily.
Many of his paintings feature characters from his family, including Aunt Dot, the little girl who is constantly doing a handstand. Another character, the family Jack Russell, Trixie, who lived until she was 28, is now stuffed and a resident of Simeon’s bedroom.
Other characters include the family car, a yellow Robin Reliant, the Victorian double fronted house, a seven year old girl with pigtails, who lives on St Michael’s Mount, and the cavorting donkeys he keeps on his farm.
A man in red and white striped trousers often hurries across the picture dragging a small boy – Simeon himself with his son, dashing through life at a tremendous pace. There’s also his father, Mr Stafford the greengrocer with his horse and cart.
Since moving to Cornwall, Simeon’s work has much greater expression, exuberance and freedom. He has a wonderful way of applying the paint, creating an interesting and textured surface. Like other artists before him, the Cornish light has obviously influenced his colour palette.
Simeon exhibited his work at the Royal Academy in 2001 and his work features in many private collections, including those of Her Majesty The Queen and Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister.
