Morning Heat by Simon Ledson

Simon Ledson is a surfer, artist and graphic designer whose work is an experiment that investigates the way the rhythm of the ocean connects with the artist’s body and charts the impact of that connection. For Simon, the ocean operates as the metaphorical enactment of the way in which the physical body impacts upon, and is impacted by the physical world. His work deals with ideas surrounding perception and distortion of vision regarding the constants such as space and time. He is fascinated by the flow of time and the way that time is calibrated and counted both personally and historically. Simon lives and works in Somerset.

Simon emphasises the simplicity of form and the contemporary interaction between the light with haunting tone and texture combined with emotion. These are a study of low light observations capturing the atmospheric mood, a form of time and awakening, a source of light and shadow delivering a calming and mysterious echo. His feelings towards the paintings create an unease of something that appears to have happened but may not have happened at all. These paintings are a personal journey and still searching, affected by sleep deprivation which has the power to distort the idea of day and night. Vision can be the result of some form of unconscious reference, a matter of making assumptions and drawing conclusions from incomplete data, based on previous experiences.

These landscape paintings are an ongoing enquiry into what he sees, a mere reflection of light on a surface, the reality of reflection. As a collection of Somerset landscapes, these paintings are a study of low light observation capturing the atmospheric mood and still moments of the early morning, with light just about burning through to show a trace of the landscape. Landscapes are sketched with detailed studies and worked straight on to primed canvases on location either in oil or charcoal, and are finished in the studio in oil.