Greg “Craola” Simkins: ‘The Middle’

A Hybridized Universe

Imagine a superhero riding a bluejay or a rat-like creature spawned from the mind of Lewis Carroll reading a tarot card, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of how Greg Simkins’ mind works. Simkins’ work is one part surrealism, one part expressionism, and a third part magic, as within each of these strange and celebratory images is a deep and abiding commitment to his own luminous inventiveness.

Cardholder One

Simkins’ universe is a hybridized one that fuses imagery from the natural world, including birds, mice and all manner of mammalian creatures with urban technology, creating a kind of steam punk aesthetic, though I would argue that the work is not simply slick and pretty, but boasts a deeper connection to the living world. Perhaps these images pose a warning for the future of mankind. Often Simkins posits an adversarial relationship between the two worlds or within the natural order of things. For example, in The Bird and the Worm, a swan is poised to devour a very aggressive and rather cheeky worm with multiple eyes and two heads. This is definitely not a creature you’d want to encounter on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and perhaps the swan is ridding the world of some inherent, devouring evil? As with other works in the show, Simkins suggests that nature will have the last word, especially where humans are concerned.

Sidewalk’s End

Looking at these images, one has the sense that within Simkins’ universe birds are avatars for a kind of creation myth, forging incredible and life sustaining interspecies connections. After all, birds are the oldest living descendants of the dinosaur, and, if one is thinking metaphorically, (because birds have the ability to fly), then they are in fact closest to “God.” This would certainly constitute a more poetical reading of Simkins’ paintings, but oddly, I think the shoe fits.

The Bird and the Worm

Humans make the occasional appearance here, albeit tangential to the much larger and more colorful birds. Perhaps the most striking image in the show is the painting, The Middle, a fantastical amalgamation of animal motifs, encompassing a world presided over by giant bluejays and bizarre mechanical owls. Again, as with other images, the central tension in the painting derives from the two small human figures that stand facing one another: one riding a bluejay; and the other a squid. Are we witnessing a face-off or a tacit agreement to end a centuries’ long epic battle between good and evil? We will never know for sure, but one thing is for certain, and that is that Simkins’ imagination knows no bounds.

Cover image: The Middle; all images courtesy KP Projects.