George Simon (artist)

Environment is also a major, and related, theme in Simon's work. In an article on "Arts and the Environment" in Stabroek News, Al Creighton described Simon as an artist who engaged with the environment in a particularly "profound" way, especially through his representations of "Arawak co-existence with the land and the water". In an interview from 2011, Simon remarked: "My work is now concentrated on drawing attention to the indigenous people and how they have lived with the environment in mind. I hope this will lead to a general acceptance that man is related to the environment; that the environment is not just bland, but is full of life and has deep meaning".

In 2009, Simon began working on a major archaeological project in the Berbice region of Guyana with Neil L. Whitehead at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michael Heckenberger at the University of Florida. Aimed at investigating the remains of ancient settlements and agricultural networks in the Berbice region, the project had its origins in an initial sighting of numerous small mounds by retired Major-General Joe Singh, during one of his flights to the Guyana Defence Force Battle School at Takama. Singh's initial observations were pursued by Simon, who discovered terra preta soils (evidence of human inhabitance) in the area in 1987. In 1992, Whitehead and Simon revisited the sites and undertook preliminary field investigations of cultural and geological remains in the area. These investigations uncovered a "vast complex of agricultural mounds in the area" and a large terra preta site named Hitia. Initial radiocarbon tests of samples taken from the site places the construction of the agricultural mounds at approximately 1800BP.

In 2009, Simon, Whitehead, Heckenberger and David Steadman (curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History) undertook a pilot archaeological study of four occupation sites along the Berbice River. Testing of ceramic and organic materials from the sites gave a radiocarbon date of ca. 5000BP (3,000 years BCE). These dates placed the materials among the oldest recovered in the greater Amazonia region. As such, Whitehead explained that the Berbice Archaeology Project (ongoing) promised to "substantially change" current understanding of "long-term human occupation in the tropics, and particularly the important role that Arawakan peoples may have played in that process". Michael Mansoor, chairman of the ANSA Awards' Eminent Persons Panel, said that the project "might cause history books about the pre-Columbian past of the Americas to be radically rewritten".

Palace of the Peacock: Homage to Wilson Harris is a mural situated on one of the walls of the Turkeyen Campus of the University of Guyana. It was jointly painted by Simon (main artist), Philbert Gajadhar, and Anil Roberts. The painting is a tribute to the Guyanese novelist Wilson Harris and his first novel, Palace of the Peacock (1960). The mural was unveiled on 25 June 2009.

In 2002, Simon moved to Montreal in Canada. While in Canada he organised a performance of Amerindian dancers and musicians as part of a Guyana Festival that was put on by the Guyanese Consulate in Toronto in May 2002.

In July 2002, Simon traveled to Haiti, where he set up a small school called Escola Nueva, teaching English, Art and Music. Although he did not stay in Haiti for long, his time there was artistically very productive because, in his words: "Haiti is full of vibrations; full of replicas of Amerindian heritage with museums dedicated to artefacts. It is buzzing with art displayed on the streets". Simon left Haiti to travel back to Guyana in mid-August 2002.

On his return to Guyana, Simon took up a position as lecturer in art, archaeology and anthropology, and coordinator of the Amerindian Research Unit, at the University of Guyana. He also began work on the construction of an Arts Centre in his hometown of St. Cuthbert's Mission, which was opened in September 2002. The Arts Centre was designed to allow local artists to exhibit their work. In the same month, Simon took part in an exhibition of Amerindian art at Castellani House (the home of Guyana's National Art Gallery) entitled Moving Circle.

In 2001, Simon moved to France to take up the position of Artist-in-Residence at the Galerie Epices et Arts (Arts and Spices Gallery) in Lyon. The gallery staged an exhibition of his work in December of that year.

In December 1998, Simon left Guyana and embarked on a series of journeys that would last until 2002. On leaving Guyana, Simon first moved to Chad where he worked with the United States Embassy Public Affairs Department's Language Centre. During this time he worked with a group of Chadian artists to found an art studio and gallery in N’Djamena called the House of African Art. Together they organised an exhibition of their art work, at the gallery, in 1999. Simon also worked as manager for a local musical group, H'Sao, who won a bronze medal at the Jeux de la Francophonie in Quebec in July 2001.

Simon was awarded Guyana's Golden Arrow of Achievement in 1998. In May 2012, he was awarded the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence for his work as an artist and an archaeologist.

Simon is widely recognized as a major Guyanese artist. In an essay from 1996, Sir Wilson Harris described Simon as "a gifted painter to be cherished" and suggested that his work was part of an artistic "renascence". "I celebrate George Simon's arrival", Harris wrote. "He possesses a sure touch, I find, in the veined tapestry, the evolving tapestry, of worlds he and his ancestors have known". In their introductory book on Art in the Caribbean (2010), Stanley Greaves and art critic and historian Anne Walmsley present Simon as "a gifted and accomplished painter" and a notable Caribbean artist. In 2002, Guyanese lecturer and art critic Alim Hosein applauded Simon's work for its "searching, individualistic exploration of his Amerindian heritage". Al Creighton has described him as one of Guyana's "most distinguished artists", who is notable, in particular, for his preoccupation with "the cosmos of the Lokono" and for his "profound" engagement with environmental themes. In an article about "The Rise of Amerindian art" in Guyana, he wrote: "[Simon] very eloquently demonstrates some of the most exciting developments in Guyanese Amerindian art. More than that, he is a leader in charting its directions".

Conceptually, Simon deployed an intuitive approach to his paintings. He often began by deciding on a dominant colour for his work, "throw[ing] paint haphazardly" at the canvas, and then responded to "imagery [that] comes up". In 1994/5 Simon explained: "I have great faith in the subconscious. So I would let the paint remain on the canvas and look at it and gradually images come out and I would develop those images".

In 1992, Simon returned to England to study for an MA in Field and Analytical Techniques in Archaeology at University College London. Simon completed the MA in 1994, when he returned to Guyana.

In February 1991, Simon organised an exhibition of his own work along with the work of nine other artists from the Lokono Artists Group at the Hadfield Foundation. The exhibition was entitled Contemporary Amerindian Art. According to University of Guyana lecturer Alim Hosein, the exhibition constituted a "ground shift in Guyanese art": "The exhibition [...] broke all boundaries and all conceptions of Amerindian art in Guyana, and indeed made the serious claim that there was such a thing as 'Amerindian art,' a claim which was based on far more than the appearance of Amerindian motifs in artwork by persons of Amerindian descent. The abundance of excellent work, the new visual imagination and the sheer number of artists [...] from this small population of Guyanese, introduced the Amerindians as a serious force in local art and added a new dimension to it at a time when expressions by other artists were scarce". Contemporary Amerindian Art launched a tradition of exhibitions of Amerindian art that are organised most years as part of Amerindian Heritage Month.

Simon paints primarily with acrylics on canvas, twill fabric, or paper. He builds contrasts and depth into his paintings by applying thin layers of acrylic, one on top of the other, "very gently and very tediously". In the late 1990s he started to experiment with the use of gesso in order to create texture and three-dimensional patterns of relief in his paintings.

During these years, Simon also worked hard to improve the training and development opportunities for Amerindian artists in Guyana. Concerned about Amerindians from his village "not going very far in their education", Simon founded a drawing and design workshop in St Cuthbert's mission in August 1988. The workshop fostered a number of artistic talents who have since achieved artistic recognition in their own right, including Oswald ("Ossie") Hussein, Roaland Taylor and Lynus Clenkien. These artists – including Simon – are known collectively as the Lokono Artists Group.

In 1978, Simon returned to Guyana and began working as a lecturer in art at the Burrowes School of Art, and then at the University of Guyana. During this time, Simon formed a close friendship with the Guyanese archaeologist, anthropologist and novelist, Denis Williams, and in 1985 Williams invited Simon to work as his research assistant at the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology. Simon worked at the Walter Roth Museum until 1992, and it was during this time that he began his training in archaeology and anthropology, under the tutelage of Williams.

In 1970, Simon and his foster-father moved to Essex, England. From 1972 to 1974 Simon studied A-level Art at Thurrock and Basildon College in Grays, Essex. In 1975, he enrolled at the University of Portsmouth where he studied for a BA in fine art, with a special focus on art history and 19th-century art. He graduated with honours in 1978.

George Simon (23 April 1947 – 15 July 2020) was a Guyanese Lokono Arawak artist and archaeologist. He was the founder and mentor of the Lokono Artists Group, a group of Lokono artists from Guyana, based primarily in Simon's hometown of St. Cuthbert's Mission. Simon was widely regarded as one of the leading Guyanese artists of his generation, and his paintings (acrylic on canvas, paper or twill fabric) are notable for their explorations of Amerindian culture and the Guyanese environment. He was also recognized for his achievements as an educator, his efforts to develop opportunities for Amerindian artists in Guyana, and for his work as an archaeologist.

George Simon was born on 23 April 1947 to Olive and Mark Simon in St. Cuthbert's Mission on the Mahaica River in British Guiana (now Guyana). His father was a woodcutter, and his mother was a housewife. Simon attended school at St Cuthbert's Mission up until the age of 12. Discussing his early years in an interview from 1994/5, Simon recalled the way in which the Mission school stifled expressions of Amerindian culture: "Anyone found speaking Arawak in class was flogged [...] In general, Amerindian culture was discouraged and we were made to feel inferior".