Bloom Painting

BEHIND THE BRUSH Eric Gaston Simard was born and raised in Woodstock, Ontario. As the son of a professional photographer, Eric was first exposed to the field of visual arts at a very young age. His ongoing photographic training as his father’s assistant allowed him to travel throughout Canada as he learned the craft. Direct links can be drawn both figuratively as well as literally between Eric’s work and the Color Field painters of the 40s and 50s. Inspired initially by Jasper Johns and Barnett Newman’s Voice of Fire 1967, his first solo attempts at visual self-expression came in high school where he experimented with different types of media. Upon graduation, Eric attended the visual arts program at Sault College in Sault St. Marie, Ontario. This experience was an exercise in self-discovery for Eric, and it led him back to two primary mediums, Encaustic (wax) and Acrylic Painting. Having had little formal exposure to the ecaustic medium, Eric was unencumbered by the past process used and it allowed him to develop his own unique strongly textured style. His technique of applying multiple layers through pouring, gluing, and carving, gives his work a sense of movement that jumps out from the wall figuratively as well as literally. The three dimensional texture in many of his paintings solicit the hands of viewers to reach out and touch each image, begging them to question the delicacy of each finely laid layer. Eric attended The University of Western Ontario and graduated from the Management and Organizational Studies program in 2009 and subsequently completed is MBA with the Ivey School of Business in 2017. Eric’s work can be found in private collections across North America including The University of Western Ontario. Additionally, selected works can be found at the Woodstock Art Gallery, Westland Gallery and The Art Exchange in London, Ontario.