Today we’d like to introduce you to Maud Simmons.
Hi Maud, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am a fine artist, a painter. I attended the Rhode Island School of Design before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an interesting career in my field. I painted billboards for many years, then went on to residential murals, loving work on a large scale. All the while I kept up my private practice and exploration of a variety of imagery and styles, while executing commission work for many art consultants. That work has been placed in hotels, restaurants, and public spaces for many years. I have also done paintings for TV and cinema over the years. In the present moment I’m concentrating on a new series, juxtaposing large scale imagery with very small, to explore the phenomenon of visual intimacy between viewer and object.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, of course it hasn’t been a smooth road. There have been challenges both financially, and practically. Always the question persists of artistic vision and authenticity, vs. fitting into the ‘real’ world.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a painter, and was raised up in my field when painting was thought of as ‘dead’ in the big art schools across the country. Conceptual art was coming up in the 80’s, so it was a struggle to be taken seriously…to get the attention other artists were getting at the time. All that has changed now, and I’m grateful. My roots are in photorealism, with a lot of beach imagery, but now I’d say my vision is much larger than that. The work is grounded in the natural world, having painted images of water for many years, and now focusing on trees…very large paintings, juxtaposed to very small ones. I examine the phenomenon of viewing intimacy and the differences in scale…how these differences affect both the viewer, and the creator.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Being in nature always makes me happy. It’s where wonder lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://maudsimmons.com/index.html
- Instagram: oliveisnumber2
- Other: https://maudlandia.com
