“The landscape has been the source of my work…The work places itself somewhere between a modernistic reliance on the essential qualities (of the materials and methods of painting), and an awareness of traditional forms of the landscape. I use this as a departure point, for entering into a process of layering and rubbing back, setting up a dialogue between myself, the medium and the landscape. The work becomes a result of reacting to what is happening on the surface at the time, and building on chance effects that present themselves, contributing to a sense of space, distance and movement.” (1)

“Simon's work shows an abiding concern for the master painters of the past; his sky studies owe a debt to Constable, while the landscapes show a keen awareness of the landscape art of the 19th century Romantic painters. His paintings, while seemingly representational of actual places, are more often than not ‘imaginative’ scenes built from fragments of memory or a part of a landscape, even a photograph – although they nevertheless have a strong sense of place.” (2)

Simon’s recent works on aluminum are atmospheric and moody. “Clouds swirl around craggy rock, rising high against the mysterious, mirrored depths of the lakes. Over brooding slashes of black paint and creeping shadow... invests Simon Edwards’ landscapes with a dream-like quality.  There is always cinematic grandeur to his work, a sense of vast majesty, heightened by the encompassing mist and the polychromatic glow”. (3)

Simon Edwards was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. He gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, in 1997. Edwards has gained a number of awards including the “People’s Choice Award” in the Anthony Harper Award in Contemporary Art in 2005 and first prize in Landscape in the Parklane Art Awards in 2006, as well as placing as a finalist in the Cranleigh Barton Drawing Awards and the Parkin Drawing Drawing Prize.  Edwards regularly exhibits around New Zealand and is represented in numerous collections in New Zealand and abroad, including the Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna o Waiwhetu

Milford Galleries has represented Simon Edwards since 2001.