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David Simpson

David Simpson

  • Biography
  • Works
  • Exhibitions
  • Press
  • American, b. 1928 Lives and works in Berkeley, CA David Simpson is a reductive painter who had been central to...
    Photo: Donald Dietz

    American, b. 1928

    Lives and works in Berkeley, CA

     

    David Simpson is a reductive painter who had been central to the Bay Area art scene since the 1950s. He received his BFA from the California School of Fine Arts (now SFAI) and MA from San Francisco State College (now SFSU). His diverse painting practice weaves together impulses of minimalism and hard-edge abstraction with those of the California Light and Space movement, to forge an entirely singular creative vision. Throughout his career, from early striped oil paintings that hint at atmospheric landscapes to his celebrated interference paintings that shimmer and alter in the light, depending on their angle of view, Simpson has maintained a boundless curiosity and desire to expand the limits of his chosen medium. 
     
    In addition to solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Oakland Museum of Art, CA; and the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA, his work has been included in group exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. Significant exhibitions include Fifty Californians, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1962); Americans 1963, curated by Dorothy Miller, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (1963); Post Painterly Abstraction, curated by Clement Greenberg, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA (1965); Art Across America, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA (1965); and The West Coast Now, Portland Art Museum, OR (1968). 
     
    He is represented in important public and private collections that include the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; Berkeley Art Museum, CA; M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano, Switzerland; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Panza Collection, Lugano, Switzerland and Varese, Italy; Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, CA; and Seattle Museum of Art, WA. 
     
    A monographic publication of his career, David Simpson: Works 1965 - 2015, was published by Radius Books in 2016.
     
    Artist CV (PDF)
  • Works
    • David Simpson Greenspan, 1994 Acrylic on canvas 86 x 72 inches
      David Simpson
      Greenspan, 1994
      Acrylic on canvas
      86 x 72 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Simpson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EGreenspan%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1994%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E86%20x%2072%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • David Simpson Little Gods of August, 1996 Acrylic on canvas 66 x 66 inches
      David Simpson
      Little Gods of August, 1996
      Acrylic on canvas
      66 x 66 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Simpson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ELittle%20Gods%20of%20August%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1996%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E66%20x%2066%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • David Simpson Fixed in Amber, 2006 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 60 inches
      David Simpson
      Fixed in Amber, 2006
      Acrylic on canvas
      60 x 60 inches
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      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Simpson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EFixed%20in%20Amber%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2006%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E60%20x%2060%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • David Simpson Royal Couple (2 of 2), 1997 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 inches
      David Simpson
      Royal Couple (2 of 2), 1997
      Acrylic on canvas
      48 x 48 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Simpson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ERoyal%20Couple%20%282%20of%202%29%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1997%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E48%20x%2048%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • David Simpson Bronze Tondo, 1990 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 72 inches
      David Simpson
      Bronze Tondo, 1990
      Acrylic on canvas
      72 x 72 inches
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      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Simpson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EBronze%20Tondo%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1990%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E72%20x%2072%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • David Simpson California Diptych, 1992 Acrylic on canvas Diptych, overall: 66 x 50 inches
      David Simpson
      California Diptych, 1992
      Acrylic on canvas
      Diptych, overall: 66 x 50 inches
      Inquire
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    • David Simpson Sweet Deep, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 20 inches
      David Simpson
      Sweet Deep, 2015
      Acrylic on canvas
      20 x 20 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Simpson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ESweet%20Deep%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2015%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E20%20x%2020%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • David Simpson Blue Ado, 1998 Acrylic on canvas 16 x 16 x 2.5 inches
      David Simpson
      Blue Ado, 1998
      Acrylic on canvas
      16 x 16 x 2.5 inches
      Inquire
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  • Exhibitions
    • David Simpson: A Bit Beyond

      David Simpson: A Bit Beyond

      May 2 - July 5, 2025
      Haines proudly presents David Simpson: A Bit Beyond , our 12th solo exhibition with the beloved Bay Area painter and abstractionist. The Exhibition Reception will take place on Thursday, May...
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    • Material Matters

      Material Matters

      July 19 - August 31, 2024
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present Material Matters , a group exhibition bringing together eight artists whose highly inventive use of materials is central to their practices. The exhibition includes...
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    • David Simpson: Smoke and Mirrors

      David Simpson: Smoke and Mirrors

      June 21 - August 23, 2023
      Haines Gallery proudly presents David Simpson: Smoke and Mirrors , our 11th solo exhibition with the beloved Bay Area painter. At once reductive and radical, Simpson’s paintings weave together impulses...
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    • Social Abstraction

      Social Abstraction

      September 10 - October 29, 2022
      Haines Gallery proudly presents Social Abstraction , a group exhibition showcasing works by Angelo Filomeno , Won Ju Lim , Aili Schmeltz , David Simpson , Robert Stone and Lena...
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    • Chromotherapy

      Chromotherapy

      July 8 - September 5, 2021
      Haines Gallery is pleased to announce our reopening to the public with Chromotherapy , a group exhibition celebrating the transfor-mative powers of color. Opening on Thursday, July 8, our first...
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    • David Simpson: Interference

      David Simpson: Interference

      January 2 - March 28, 2020
      Haines Gallery proudly presents our tenth solo exhibition with acclaimed Bay Area artist David Simpson (b. 1928; lives and works in Berkeley, CA). Interference presents a selection of abstract paintings...
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    • David Simpson: The War Room

      David Simpson: The War Room

      September 6 - October 27, 2018
      Haines Gallery is pleased to announce The War Room , an exhibition of new work by seminal Bay Area painter David Simpson (b. 1928, lives and works in the San...
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    • Quintessence: 6 Perspectives on Abstraction

      Quintessence: 6 Perspectives on Abstraction

      June 7 - September 1, 2018
      This summer, Haines Gallery is pleased to present Quintessence: 6 Perspectives on Abstraction , a group exhibition bringing together works by six contemporary artists to consider a range of approaches...
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    • Now & Then: The work of David Simpson

      Now & Then: The work of David Simpson

      September 8 - October 22, 2016
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present Now & Then: The Work of David Simpson , a solo exhibition spanning over five decades of artwork by one of the San Francisco...
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    • Goethe's Chamber

      Goethe's Chamber

      January 8 - February 28, 2015
      Goethe’s Chamber is a group exhibition that invites visitors to reconsider vision as an embodied, subjective and durational experience, continuously augmented by emergent technologies and theorized from various vantages throughout...
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    • Fundamental Abstraction III

      Fundamental Abstraction III

      January 9 - March 1, 2014
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present Fundamental Abstraction III , a group exhibition featuring an international selection of artists concerned with the formal aspects of line, color, shape and composition...
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  • Press
  • Max Blue, "San Francisco gallery walk debuts at 15 free galleries," San Francisco Examiner, July 31, 2023

    "David Simpson - Amarmi Romani: Codici," Artforum, October 20, 2021.

    “The War Room,” Meer, September 22, 2018

    Sura Wood, “Fall Preview: Art Galleries,” The Bay Area Reporter, September 7, 2018

    David M. Roth, "Quintessence at Haines," Squarecylinder.com, July 28, 2018

    James H. Miller, "Frieze Spotlight: step back into the 1960s," The Art Newspaper, May 5, 2018

    Benjamin Sutton, "The Good, the Bad, and the Forgettable at Frieze New York," Hyperallergic, May 3, 2018

    Dan Golden, "A Conversation with David Simpson," Curator, December 18, 2016

     Frank Rose, "A Palace of Wonders," The New York Times, July 18, 2014

    Meredith Deliso, "Forget the Rothko Chapel and Meditate in Front of David Simpson's Calming, Intense Paintings," Houston Press, November 14, 2012

    Kenneth Baker, "Simpson's Angles of Vision," San Francisco Chronicle, January 24, 2009

    Colin Dabkowski, "Albright-Knox Exhibit: A Visionary's View," The Buffalo News, December 4, 2007

    Kenneth Baker, "David Simpson," San Francisco Chronicle, April 28, 2007

    Kenneth Baker, "Artist Gets Subtle Changes with Metallic Paints that We Just Can't Pin Down," San Francisco Chronicle, January 10, 2004

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