MARYL SIMPSON
ARTWORKS
CURRENT CREATIVE STORY:
Designer, Art Educator, Artist, Italophile. Beginnings in Seattle, educated in the Bauhaus & Yale graphic design styles/environment at the University of Washington BFA program, collaborated in award-winning designs thereafter. I moved to Milan, Italy, for ten years, teaching design and collaborating in graphic design trades. I moved to Los Angeles, earned an MA in Art Education, teaching certifications in Art, Art K thru 12, and Italian, as well as nurtured a growing interest in museum studies, visual culture, while creating personal artworks. My studies in identities and documentary work in all fields have led to current works on the Covid-19 pandemic.
PANDEMIC PORTRAITS
I love portraiture. Think Uffizi. My artworks document the Covid-19 pandemic through a personal style of portraiture. Mine is an ongoing series of subjects, friends, or acquaintances, whom I have documented wearing their required masks and provided details that illustrate their particular personalities. With an interest in identities, from corporate identity to personal identity, I recognize the branding styles of the culture and of the masks we poetically acquire, and wear, both visual and non-visual. Just now, although we are physically masked, I see that we are all inherently masked. The masks we must now wear are not intended as a comment on our reality. Still, as my work grows, I find that we are designing our altered identities by the masks we choose. We make a statement by the harshness or softness in the masks' designs and the way we wear them. For identity neophytes, there is no meaning. But for others, their choice is a design statement, despite the confusion in our present situation.
JOURNEY
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Short of a decade working in collaboration with major designers and studios with award winning results for my work.
MILAN, ITALY
Collaboration with major design and advertising agencies and more award winning work and recognition.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Change of course, international travel, collaborations in the film industry, personal growth, and a rebirth of my interest in fine art.
STORE
"Art is Living and Breathing."