Simon Hartles is a Cornwall-based artist creating expressive, material-led paintings rooted in the landscape of West Penwith.
Working from his studio near Cape Cornwall, Simon responds to the changing light, weather and raw geology of the Atlantic coast. His paintings don't attempt to reproduce the landscape; instead, they translate its energy, atmosphere and sense of place through colour, gesture and texture.
Clay, fire ash, oxides, pigments and other natural materials are worked directly into the surface, building paintings that are physical as well as visual. Layers are scraped, built, broken back and reworked, creating surfaces that shift between the atmospheric and the almost sculptural.
At the heart of the work are ideas of identity, belonging and resilience — a response to a landscape that has been shaped by both natural forces and generations of human life.
Simon has taught Fine Art in London and Cornwall since 2003 and is a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists. He received the Refresh Art Award for Art of Our Times in 2021, and his paintings are held in private collections in the UK and internationally.
