Simmonds MacAdam
Statement:
Vulnerability, uncertainty and contemplation are common themes in my practice. I respond to Old Master history painting in which the male body is enshrouded in power, prestige and emotional impenetrability. Interested in exploring a place for critical figure painting, I take up the male figure as a metaphor through which to examine social values and secure space for multiple ways of being.
Bio:
Esther Simmonds-MacAdam is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Straddling cultural studies and visual art, Esther received an MA in Sociology and Equity Studies at the University of Toronto and studied Painting and Women’s Studies at Concordia University in Montreal. Formerly a member of the Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts (Toronto), she exhibits widely. In the fall of 2010 her practice was profiled on the BRAVO television program Star Portraits and in the summer of 2011 she was the recipient of the Telford Fenton Memorial Award in Painting at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. Esther has been artist in residence at The Banff Centre (Banff, Alberta) for the month of March 2012. Her practice has been generously supported by grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
