Simon Back

His other artworks are held as permanent collection by NGZ

Simon Back is a prominent contemporary artist whose painting practice navigates the delicate tension between structured space and compulsive physical expression. Born in Zimbabwe and currently operating from Mauritius, Back’s aesthetic vocabulary is heavily informed by the clean expansiveness of the African landscape, balanced against the underlying psychological anxieties of his youth during an era of civil conflict. His canvases function as spaces of deep contemplation, negotiating a fine line between chaotic energy and absolute calm. At the core of Back’s practice is a tactile mixed-media approach utilizing acrylic, ink, wash, and collage. His creative process is defined by a repetitive cycle of mark-making and dramatic erasure. Rather than relying on standard figuration, he employs a destructive technique known as painting over. In this methodology, the artist builds dense, expressive forms only to deliberately obscure important segments with flat planes of solid color or whitewashed tones. This intentional erasure creates a profound sense of absence, loss, and concealment, inviting the viewer to actively interrogate the value of the remaining spaces and hidden geometries. While his visual language draws foundational inspiration from mid-century Western Abstract Expressionism and neo-expressionists, Back's thematic output remains grounded in the natural environment. His textured works evoke mankind's precarious, fragile relationship with nature, frequently referencing aerial topographies, ploughed fields, and arid reservoirs. Subtle, ambiguous motifs such as fractured body parts, native flora, and bird silhouettes frequently rupture his surfaces, acting as psychological anchors. Ultimately, Back treats the canvas as an ongoing, evolving process of decision-making. His practice explores the vulnerability of losing familiar landmarks, forcing a constant re-evaluation of memory, displacement, and human connection within today's global landscape.