Simon Kerr
ABOUT SIMON KERR
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In January 2024 we met Napier artist - Simon Kerr. Being aware of his work and his incredible life story, this was a real treat. We got to learn of Simon's journey to his art first hand. Hear of some of his life's lessons and the story behind the pieces we now offer, in his own words.
Simon's works bring something extraordinarily new and exciting to Quay. His perspective is unique, his use of colour inspired. He was not taught how to paint, he picked up a brush and painted. Though his works have been compared to artists such as Basquait, his use of words within the composition reminiscent of McCahon - he never studied these artists and in fact, had little knowledge of them. Simon’s story: Born 29 April 1961, Simon Kerr was 15 when he was first sent to Mt Eden Prison in Auckland. In the 1980’s spanning three decades across New Zealand and Australia, Simon was the leader of a group of safe-crackers known as the “Hole-in-the-Wall Gang”, and he subsequently staged a number of escapes from prison. During Simon’s last prison sentence from 2011 - 2015 served at Northland Region Corrections Facility he started creating art. With limited art materials available to paint on within prison, Simon resourcefully used whatever medium he could paint on, ranging from prison sheets to old bits of board. Simon says, “apart from love, art is the only thing I’m really passionate about. Corrections provided me with a vehicle to develop that passion." Simon’s talent was quickly recognised by his art tutors. Kerikeri artist and critic Mike Nettman says he was staggered when he first saw what Simon was producing. "I looked over Simon’s shoulder to see what he was doing and thought, 'My gosh, this man is incredibly talented,” Mike recalls. “I asked him what he did before he was in prison. And he said to me, 'I robbed banks'. I said I meant what was his occupation and again he said he'd robbed banks. From the age of 15, he'd been robbing banks and that's all he knew.“ |
Having served close to a total of 20 years in prison over a period of 30+ years, Simon’s final release was in late 2015. Soon after Simon held his first solo exhibition in Kerikeri which sold out. This was followed by an exhibition held at the Whangarei Art Museum where Simon was successfully selected from circa 1000 applicants. A number of Simon’s works were purchased by the Whangarei Art Museum and are exhibited there today.
This was the beginning of Simon’s career as an artist with numerous exhibition’s following between 2016 to the present time in 2023. One of Simon’s most successful exhibitions was in 2017. Named “On the Way to the Opera with the Drug Lord and Mr X” – Simon became the custodian of this story: “On a rainy winters night in August 1993, two men were broken out of maximum-security prison by Mr X, one a Drug Lord and another gentleman serving a life sentence who was 5 years later arrested at the Opera Bar in central Wellington”. The exhibition included 11 of Simon’s works which were intelligently linked through his genius yet naïve story telling ability; the exhibition was a sell-out and attracted a great deal of media and police attention at the time.
Of his exhibitions, Simon says “I hope this will encourage others not to be deterred by obstacles and to free themselves from the mould they’ve become stuck in.”
Simon says his art is two things: A narrative of his personal journey and his observation of the world along that journey.
"I’m passionate about telling my story and view of the world - I paint autobiographically and/or biographically about my interpretation of the world - from the time of my childhood until the present. If I struggle to convey a picture, I may include text to simplify, as language is a great way of conveying a message. Why that’s important to me is because I want to clearly communicate my thoughts about my life, it's my effort, and it's not up for interpretation." Simon is a unique storyteller through his art; painting with vigour and passion while truly opening his soul to the viewer making his work extremely honest and powerful.
Simon has many more stories to share, we hope you will join us in celebrating Simon's art as he takes us along on this journey.
This was the beginning of Simon’s career as an artist with numerous exhibition’s following between 2016 to the present time in 2023. One of Simon’s most successful exhibitions was in 2017. Named “On the Way to the Opera with the Drug Lord and Mr X” – Simon became the custodian of this story: “On a rainy winters night in August 1993, two men were broken out of maximum-security prison by Mr X, one a Drug Lord and another gentleman serving a life sentence who was 5 years later arrested at the Opera Bar in central Wellington”. The exhibition included 11 of Simon’s works which were intelligently linked through his genius yet naïve story telling ability; the exhibition was a sell-out and attracted a great deal of media and police attention at the time.
Of his exhibitions, Simon says “I hope this will encourage others not to be deterred by obstacles and to free themselves from the mould they’ve become stuck in.”
Simon says his art is two things: A narrative of his personal journey and his observation of the world along that journey.
"I’m passionate about telling my story and view of the world - I paint autobiographically and/or biographically about my interpretation of the world - from the time of my childhood until the present. If I struggle to convey a picture, I may include text to simplify, as language is a great way of conveying a message. Why that’s important to me is because I want to clearly communicate my thoughts about my life, it's my effort, and it's not up for interpretation." Simon is a unique storyteller through his art; painting with vigour and passion while truly opening his soul to the viewer making his work extremely honest and powerful.
Simon has many more stories to share, we hope you will join us in celebrating Simon's art as he takes us along on this journey.
