Lee Simmonds (b.1996) received his BFA with First-Class Honours from the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, England in 2019. His work explores boundaries between abstraction and narrative; the personal and the macrocosmic. Channelling everyday experience through the genre of magical realism, he strives to create uncanny situations, rendered through a continually evolving visual language. Simmonds is actively involved in theatre-making and he is often seeking new ways in which his two practises can converge.
Solo Exhibitions include (Upcoming) Salon, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA (2025); Kaleidoscopes, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2024); Can You See the Wood for the Trees?, Lundgren Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (2022); Blooming ‘Eck, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2022); Into Yonderland, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2020).
Group exhibitions include The Armory Show, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, New York, USA (2024); Enter Art Fair, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (2023); Cob Gallery Anniversary Show, Camden, London, UK (2022); Dancing in Dark Times, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK (2021); W1 Curates x Artsy | Black History Month, Flannels flagship store, London, UK (2021); Tête à Tête, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Nevlunghavn, Norway (2021); IRL, Unit London, London, UK (2020); All the Days and Nights, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2020); Ruskin Degree Shows, Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, UK (2019); New College Arts Week Exhibition, Warden’s Barn, New College, Oxford, UK (2019); Ensemble Fictions, Brown’s Café, Oxford, UK (2019); Cass Art Festival, OXO Tower Wharf, London, UK (2017); National Open Art, Mercers’ Hall, London and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK (2016); Artsdepot Annual Exhibition, Artsdepot, London, UK (2016); Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London, UK (2016); BP Portrait Awards, National Portrait Gallery, London, Scottish Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK; Ulster Museum, Belfast, North Ireland (2015); Royal Academy Online Summer exhibitor (2014) and Royal Academy Online Summer exhibitor (2013).
Highlights and Collections
Lee Simmonds has received several prestigious awards which include the Christchurch A4 Prize (2019). In the same year, Simmonds was selected as one of 31 students worldwide for the Saatchi's Rising Art Stars. He also received the MS Amlin Young Artist Award (2016); and BP Portrait Award (2015) and was the Winner of Regional 'Kickstart' Competition (2014). Lee Simmonds' work is part of the Artspace Bunker Museum Collection in Palm Beach, USA, as well as The RO2 Collection, USA.