1Brandon Flowers
Musician Portraits is a new exhibition from painter Joe Simpson at a pop-up gallery at 16/17 Greek Street, Soho, London W1D 4DR. It runs until 30th October and entry is the grand total of nothing. Here’s Brandon Flowers from The Killers.
2Jack Steadman
Here’s Jack Steadman from Bombay Bicycle Club. There are 22 paintings in the series, each created with oil on canvas and sized 60 x 60 cm.
3Ezra Koenig
Ezra Koenig, frontman of Vampire Weekend. Joe approached his favourite musicians from a wide range of musical genres and nationalities to include in the series. Once the subjects agreed to be included in the series, Joe met up with each artist to take original photographs to work from to create an original oil painting.
4Anna Calvi
Anna Calvi. Each painting typically takes a little under two weeks to complete.
5Scroobius Pip
Scroobius Pip. Joe said: “I’ve tried to root each painting in a tradition of painted portraiture – each piece has a quiet, still and almost introspective feel to them. I’d tried to capture the way that each person held themselves when I met them, usually I didn’t give the musicians a great deal of direction, or plan how I wanted the piece to turn out.”
6Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson. Joe said: “These paintings have a physicality to them that you don’t get with a photograph, the paint has a specific weight and application – you can see layers and brushmarks in the hair and skin tones. I’m really excited to see all the paintings together for the first time.”
7Paloma Faith
Paloma Faith. Joe’s paintings have been shown both nationally and internationally, including prestigious venues such as Urbis, Manchester City Art Gallery, Cornerhouse and The House of Commons.
8Damon Gough
Damon Gough aka Badly Drawn Boy. Joe’s largest exhibition ‘Almost There’ received funding from the Arts Council England and corporate sponsorship from Audio Technica.
9Jade Williams
Jade Williams aka Sunday Girl.
10Matt Beringer
Matt Beringer, frontman of The National. After the exhibition the paintings will be sold. 25% of the sale will be donated to Seeing is Believing – an initiative to tackle avoidable blindness.
11The Guillemots
The Guillemots‘ frontman Fyfe Dangerfield.
12Maxi Jazz
Maxi Jazz, Faithless. Joe’s portrait of Maxi Jazz has been shortlisted for the prestigious BP Portrait Award 2011.
13The Vaccines
The Vaccines‘ Justin Young. For more info of the exhibition check www.joe-simpson.co.uk and follow @Joesimpsonart on twitter.