Simon Zabell

Simon Zabell (Malaga, 1970, of British nationality) is an artist whose main line of research consists of the “translation” of works of literature, music, poetry, etc. into art projects that usually materialize in paintings, sculptures and installations.

The first stage of the ‘Our Men in Tahiti’ project consists of research into the work of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson ‘ The Ebb Tide’, but transcending its limits. It explores whether the novel has a meaning beyond the history it narrates; whether it can be interpreted as a metaphorical description of the reality of European colonialism at the end of the 19th century. Out of this research arises a series of paintings in varied formats that represent situations appearing in the novel and that are a kind of metaphor for the colonial reality of the time. In addition, there is a short documentary on the different phases of the project, which is studied through the camera of specialist Gonzalo Posada León in a filmed journey that extends from the origins of the idea to the works in progress, and includes conversations with academics.

Pictorially, these paintings are mainly thick oil impastos in gray tones that are superimposed on fine powdered pure colors, creating the sensation of immateriality and purity of a rainbow; two realities that fight to survive without there being any doubt as to which will triumph.