Instagram takeover – Celebrity curator!

We are very honoured to have the excellent artist and influential curator Simon Carter taking over our instagram account over the weekend of 29/ 30 August. Simon studied at Colchester Institute (1980–81) and then North East London Polytechnic (1981–84). In 2013 he collaborated with artist Robert Priseman to form the artist-led group Contemporary British Painting which has been so influential in the UK painting world; creating a wonderful sense of community as well as championing painting as a contemporary practice.

Drawing is a huge part of his process but as he says; ‘the drawings I make are about that act of looking and not necessarily about what things look like’. Those drawings are brought back into the studio and used as an entry into the process of making a painting – a process with its own energy which develops from the drawings and from memories of place. 

If you would like to see his work, he is represented internationally by Messum’s but also has a great website and I would encourage you to watch the videos on there.

I know that notions of place and memory are both really important to many OCA students ( not just painters too) so I hope lots of you take the opportunity to share your work with Simon and with each other and the wider world. 

If you would like to be considered for inclusion in Simon’s takeover, please add #OCArememberedplaces to any posts you make on your own instagram feed over that weekend and he will be able to find you and hopefully repost! (please don’t be too disappointed if he doesn’t get to you – he will only have a limited amount of time and I know this subject is something close to a lot of OCA hearts).