Simon Jones

Born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1951, Simon’s late father was an orthopaedic surgeon and his mother the artist Mary Hart, who was his most cherished critic. Sadly, Mary passed away in 2009. Simon moved to Cape Town at the age of five, already with an ever-present paintbrush in his grasp. He was schooled at Bishops and matriculated in 1968, going on to “endure” a course in graphic design at The Cape College for Advanced Technical Education (now the Cape Technikon), graduating in 1973. His indelible “signature” – a hard-edged technique coupled with finely gradated areas of paint – is enhanced by additional textures and bright shocks of colour; also high relief work adds an almost 3-D effect in places, trees and stems of flowers, in particular. Realism has to a great extent supplemented the ethereal quality of his earlier work, coupled with a heightened sense of perspective.