Nancy Simonds

Nancy Simonds makes small and large-scale abstract gouache paintings and collages on paper. “In each of my pieces, different arrangements of blocks, ovals and colors create a feeling of transcendent order. These images are anti-chaos. In each painting I strive for a connection to a moment for reflection, a moment of resolution and calm. My gouache works feature luxuriant protean color and are infused with sublime soft texture.

In painting each piece there is an experience of exhilaration and renewal. In each painting I stack and pile simple shapes, placing then sizing and creating visual relationships that build to larger rhythms. My best paintings work like Japanese haiku; each image is paired down to its essentials and each becomes a complete world of its own. In these paintings I aim for an effect deeper than the joy of beautiful surface and color; I want to generate visual places, points of departure for states of serenity and contemplation.”

Simonds is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and lives in the Boston area today.