ADAM SIMPSON – Biography
Adam was born in Leicester, England. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art, followed by the Royal College. Adam works from the same studio as Heart in East London, he has been represented since 2006.
Adam’s work has a feeling of magnitude. It can be paired down to a single figure representing a single emotion or grow to an epic and immensely detailed scene. The viewpoint in Adam’s artwork is often from above, or exists as a cutaway. From this vantage point Adam reveals his interpretation of the subjects he tackles.
Upon graduating from the Royal College Adam was commissioned by Terence Conran to create an artwork for the elevator of a new hotel in London. This ‘Boundary’ artwork became a point of reference for many future clients. As an example of micro to macro, he has designed stamps for the Royal Mail commemorating the London Paralympics and a mural spanning three floors of the Hilton Hotel at Wembley. He is often, as in the Wembley commission, asked to rationalise large amounts of information into one coherent image. This can be seen in his corporate branding projects for Standard Life Wealth, and visitor guide for the newly reopened San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Work is often distilled into iconic moments, such as his BAFTA invites and programme covers for the film awards ceremony. He has worked on animations for SONOS and Courvoisier as well as moving shop window installations for Johnnie Walker.
‘This is Kandinsky’ published by Laurence King is Adam’s latest commission for an illustrated book, previously he has illustrated Thomas Moore’s ‘Utopia’ for The Folio Society and covers for a repacking of the Sherlock Holmes novels published by Penguin, amongst others.
In addition to his commercial work, he has regularly been asked to create artworks for limited edition screen prints for Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox. So far he has created newly imagined film posters for Home Alone, The French Connection, Vertigo, The 39 Steps and Rear Window. Adam has also started a personal project ‘The Lost Journal’ creating a series of artworks relating to a specific day of the year. Some are based on personal memories, some of them are a based on moments in history. The aim is to eventually have a full year. Each artwork created so far has been made into a limited edition print.
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The Architectural Review, BAFTA, Battersea Power Station, British Airways,Coca-Cola, Canongate Publishing, Courvoisier, Citi Private Bank, Esquire, Eye Magazine, The Folio Society, GQ, The Guardian, Harper Collins, Heineken, Hilton Hotels, Hodder & Stoughton, The Hollywood Reporter, Index Ventures, Johnnie Walker, Knight Frank, Land Securities, La Poste, Laurence King Publishing, Levi’s, Magma, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Nike, Nowness.com, Omega, Penguin Books, Quicken, Random House, The Royal Mail, Royal Society of Arts, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SONOS, Terence Conran, Variety, Vitra, Vodafone, Wallpaper*, Wired Magazine.