Simon Peter Kregar, Jr. was born in 1967. His father was born during World War II in Slovenia and his mother was a child actress from California. From a very early age, Simon showed interest in the arts. He was influenced by his father, an award-winning watercolorist and grandfather an award winning architect. Simon’s early artistic career, focused on graphic arts and stained glass. In 1990 he experimented with duplicating medieval manuscripts. With an art education from Northern Arizona University and having self studied in New York City, it wasn't until his mother’s death in 1997 that he took painting seriously. Simon has been the director of the arts for the local chapter of a global non profit organization that promotes living history. In addition he has been involved with the Tucson Arts Councils Art squared art market, Gallery 55 Main, and the Gallery of the Holy Ghost. In the past several years he has donated artwork to the Brewster Center for Abused Women, The Positively Beautiful organization working with HIV positive persons, and Ahead, a local Multiple Sclerosis foundation.
Statement
Q: What are your influences?
I feel it is necessary to utilize components from different art movements in each painting as opposed to aligning myself with one school. By using varied schools of art, as one would use various colors on the canvas, I hope to encompass the history of art in my body of work. I enjoy the way pure color interacts with the audience to create a mood or emotion. I find inspiration in the works of Dali, Gauguin, Mondrian, Freundlich, Delaunay, and Chuck Close. Everything I paint is autobiographical in one way or another.
Q: What is the purpose of the black and white monochrome portraits?
This technique, known as grisaille, was a type of decorative, ultra-realistic painting used in the Renaissance and Baroque Periods. I have utilized this technique in order to reinforce the separation of the subject from the reality that surrounds it. I am interested in the moment when a human being separates them from reality for whatever reason.
Q: What future plans do you have for your art?
Right now, I am working on a new series of paintings dealing with the heroes of the last 100 years for a new solo show due to open in summer of 2009. This body of work is a radical yet familiar shift from my previous style.