Simon Bacon was born in 1969 in Essex, U.K. He currently lives and works in Essex. Bacon studied at the London Atelier of Representational Art under Valentina Zlatarova (2011) and completed postgraduate studies at Colchester School of Art (2013). Concerned with an existentialist approach to form, Bacon works predominantly in bronze, exploring the human body’s capacity for movement and perception, as well as the process of sculpting as a meditative and expressive act in itself. His work pushes the boundaries of figuration in order to render in bronze something akin to the feeling of the lived experience.

 

Influenced by his research in Osteopathy and Transpersonal Psychology, Bacon is concerned with both the body and the mind, themes his practice explores through notions of identity construction, individuality, chance and freedom of choice. These ideas are naturally embodied through the sculptor’s process, which consists of multiple stages of construction and deconstruction; from the initial unmediated modelling in clay to the development of a maquette, which is reworked and altered many times over prior to casting. 

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Bacon’s work parallels the singularity, complexity and ambiguity of human nature. Forms and surfaces often appear fragile, eroded or fragmented, suggesting physical and psychological states or the conflict between subjective experience and objective reality. Contingent effects produced by this casting process are contextualised within the relationship between intentionality, chance and the unconscious. Often meditating on each object for extended periods of time prior to and during casting, Bacon is interested in how the depth of the artist’s connection, both to the object and the process of making it, might influence these contingent outcomes.