An Illustrator in Basel
by EAM Staff

Wil Simpson first contacted us after being in an issue of, Louisville, Kentucky based, Catapult Magazine. I took a look at his portfolio and thought it was intriguing and decided to take a deeper look into his life as an artist.

Simpson grew up in Milton, Ontario with his mother, but it was his grandfather Charlie who gave him the first push to think creatively. They would often sit on the front porch staring at the clouds, Charlie would tell him to always find new things. His mother introduced him to comic books and pushed him to read anything he came across, never restricting what he watched or read. They also spent a great deal of time coloring together, and she always insisted on two things, staying inside the lines and using realistic colors.

Simpson had another formative exposure to creativity when he happened upon a commune of “flower children” at the Lakeshore of Etobicoke in Ontario. These beautiful women accepted him into their group even though there was a significant age difference. He spent countless hours with them and they they opened his eyes to a whole new world of creativity; they taught him how to paint their hands and faces and even how to smoke cigarettes. Simpson said that that time of his life is, "still likely very evident in my work and my love of beautiful exotic women and as well in the image of the strong, intelligent and independent female. To this very day, I often think of them and still recall many of their wonderful faces and names. As well as the profound influence they would come to have on me, and over the course of my life."

Simpson did not attend university to study art, but he was influenced by many great illustrators and painters including, Alex Colville and James Rosenquist. It was Rosenquist that got him to think about how he created. "...not being one to copy directly anyone's style, I thought to myself...What if I made paintings that have many meanings and multiple interpretations so that the original thinking and idea I was attempting to convey is almost completely indistinguishable."

I wanted to take a specific look two of his paintings, The Summit and Little Miss Spin Doctor, from his Icons & Toys series. I was drawn to his use of iconic subject matter in each piece. Simpson explains that, "this work is the stuff of our society, the stuff of our culture and the stuff of our freedom. As a global society we both revel in and revile war, politics, economics, celebrity and our own desire for freedom. My work is a theatrical analysis, interpretation, exploration and examination of society, culture, popular culture and those high ideals we rarely achieve."

The Summit

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop billed themselves as “The Summit”, a reference to the 1960 Summit of Paris, the first time they performed together in Las Vegas. Only later did the press label them “The Rat Pack” a name that they never called themselves. Their outspoken voice caused many of the nightclubs and casinos to change their policies on segregated shows. The work visually compares them to the highest elevation, a mountain peak—it also makes the statement that they were the at the peak of the music business.

"They were real men, individuals, they openly railed against stupidity, racism, hate and intolerance of any kind. They were true rebels with style, true talents and triple threats and truly flawed individuals", Simpson said.

Little Miss Spin Doctor

This piece is the one that caught my eye, it is an interesting mix with the wood sub-straight popping out on the left with the different iconic logos and colors washed over it, juxtaposed by a seductive image of a woman placing the tone arm down onto the record with her breasts falling out of her dress. The piece symbolized the sexiness of and in the interaction between the record, the player and the listener.

Simpson told me, "...like all of us records get scratched, warped, sometimes they repeat themselves but they are always genuine and honest, quite simply they are perfectly imperfect. Like us."

He asked me to mention his fiance, but I think he said it best:

"My fiance, Denise, often goes unheralded in my work, as due as much credit and respect for my work as I am maybe even more. For the past few years Denise has been my sole benefactor and major supporter, when no one else was. She is an uber talented, rock star of a window designer for a major luxury fashion retailer here in Switzerland and has also worked for such luminaries as Victoriaʼs Secret, Esprit, The Gap, H&M etc. She has worked and worked and worked to pay the bills, buy my supplies and to give me the time and opportunity to work as a full time artist with no other distractions. She has sacrificed, struggled, suffered and endured it all for moments like this, so when I get some recognition for my work, it is only fitting that she also share the credit when it comes."