Painting Portrait By Joe Simpson

In 2009 Simpson’s first major exhibition ‘Almost There’ launched. Simpson collaborated with twelve bands and solo artists (including The Miserable Rich, Nizlopi, The Voluntary Butler Scheme, New Cassettes and Jose Vanders) to create a series of paintings that have an accompanying original soundtrack. Each painting had a song written specifically for that piece, inspired by the scene and composed to compliment the mood of the image. The paintings were exhibited with headphones beside them, so that you could simultaneously listen to the music and view the image. The visual and audio components come together to create one new piece of art.
Simpson is now working on a series of portraits of famous musicians, he has completed paintings of many famous and notable subjects, including Mark Ronson, Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), Maxi Jazz (Faithless), Paloma Faith, Matt Berninger (The National), Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) and Jamie Cullum. The exhibition is expected to launch in 2011.