A series of new paintings highlighting indigenous heritage done by local art veteran George Simon, is currently on display at Castellani House on Vlissengen Road.
Simon was born April 23, 1947, at St Cuthbert’s Mission, located up the Mahaica River. He holds a degree in Fine Art from Portsmouth Polytechnic (1975-78) and a Masters in Field and Analytical Techniques in Archaeology from the University College, London (l994).
He served as a lecturer (1978) and assistant principal (1980) at the Burrowes School of Art (BSA). Additionally, he was once appointed as research assistant at the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology in 1985.
Simon’s archaeological background dates back since the early 80s. He was also instrumental in a recent archeological discovery in Guyana. Along with a team of archaeologists, Simon examined a field of man-made mounds stretching several miles between the Berbice and Corentyne rivers dating back 5000 years.
The Lokono Arawak artist and archaeologist has won the Judges Prize for Painting at the National Visual Arts Exhibition in 1986. Simon also received the National Award of the Golden Arrow of Achievement (A.A.) in 1998. Additionally, he has received the Ansa McCal Caribbean Award for Excellence in the field of Arts and Letters in 2012.
Simon is a pioneer of visual art in Guyana. Notably, his work is housed in private and public collections worldwide.
At the launching of ‘Silent Witness’, an ongoing art exhibition at Castellani House where Simon is exhibiting his most recent paintings, curator Elfrieda Bissember stated, “Though silent of words, the elegant, twisting forms of George Simon’s ‘Tree Root #1’ and ‘Tree Root #2’ speak and symbolize conditions of life; his leaping ‘Bimichi (Hummingbird)’ revered in myth as a powerful bird, used as a charm and an embodiment of a god, is a familiar yet magical creature with its glowing colour and ‘furiously reverberating wings and body: one of the thousands of miraculous manifestations of the natural world. Simon’s ‘Jaguar’ similarly, one of a series of recent paintings, is a dominant creature in Amerindian life and myth, symbolizing strength and protection for hunters, as well as a powerful ally of the ‘Shaman’ (medicine man or healer) in his work.”
The artist is currently exhibiting his paintings, along with work done by Victor Captain and Oswald Hussein, at Castellani House until October 12.
