https://www.simonweir.net/new-paintings daily 1.0 2026-03-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1546751258633-0CJFEDXWFCZ9L4ZR5109/Rabbit%2527s%2BBlues.jpg New Paintings https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1771829546185-9GCUIYB38ZSRUK1BEA96/image-asset.jpeg New Paintings - Lecture: "Surrealism's Slippery Surface" Why is Surrealism So Slippery ? Join Surrealism scholar Simon Weir for an engaging exploration of Surrealism’s profound philosophical and psychological dimensions. We’ll trace how André Breton, Salvador Dalí, and especially René Magritte advanced automatism from its roots in spiritualism to a powerful means of accessing the unconscious, shifting from physical techniques like automatic writing toward deeper psychological insights that could be communicated through text, image, object, cinema and architecture. This program is proudly sponsored by Bendigo Community Bank Mosman, the Mosman Art Gallery 2025 EOFY campaign and the Mosman Art Gala Education Fund https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1771844705172-J2P3PBS5M1CRQ13YMSQA/Screenshot+2024-12-13+at+7.43.06%E2%80%AFpm.png New Paintings - this is not a surrealism - a manifesto for and against the simulacra of surrealism Booklet, 70 pages with black and white illustrations, $25. https://apothecaryarchive.com/the-apothecary-archive-press-1/this-is-not-a-surrealism-by-simon-weir https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1734389621954-FXG82DER510XMBVGSQMG/Rabbit%252527s%252BBlues.jpg New Paintings - two black feathers boxed together, oil on linen 12"x15" Bibliography: This is Not a Surrealism - A Manifesto for and against the Simulcara of Surrealism, Sydney: Apothecary Archive Publishing, 2024. “Ontological Withdrawal and the Symbols of Symbolism” Senzacornice - Rivista online di arte contemporanea e critica, 23 “Simbolo”, Nov 2020 - Feb 2021. Studies: Hunter’s Dog https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1772619288110-5OCA2EFKLYGLRHY8BPLL/image-asset.jpeg New Paintings Art Appreciation Lecture Salvador Dalí: painting the unconscious Discover how Salvador Dalí transformed the unconscious into art. Dalí’s extraordinary technique turned dreams, phantoms, and irrational objects into luminous visions. Drawing on his own writings, including 50 Secrets of Magical Craftsmanship, this lecture reveals how Dalí fused reason with delusion, and observation with invention, to make visible the mechanics of thought itself. Art Gallery of NSW Wednesday 17 June 2026, 6–7pm Thursday 18 June 2026, 1–2pm Tickets on AGNSW Websise https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1772007346981-B5MTNRJ02CYICIGJLPMN/IMG_5538.jpg New Paintings - Ecologies of Inception (Easter Hallucination), oil on linen, 80x100cm One evening I was retiring in bed looking across the room at my painting, “Melancholy of the Moment (Ecologies of inception), and I instattaneously imagined that painting painted onto an egg. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1754975722931-KUZSU7ZL5N22OSE1U52T/IMG_3358.jpeg New Paintings - Melancholy of the Moment (Ecologies of inception), oil on linen, 18"x24" 46x60cm Named after Simone Ferracina’s book. Salon des Refusé: 2025 “Lethbridge 20 000 Small Scale Art Award” Lethbridge Gallery, Paddington QLD. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1771818238072-FKIUZTJOCONQ31S44VO4/IMG_5533.jpeg New Paintings - Passing of a Seaplane (Apparition Prompted by the Passing of a Seaplane), oil on linen 42"x52" 107x132cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1644627827438-JBJTFXZ62D7UEUZUV2F8/Adjustments.jpg New Paintings - Imaginary Magpie, oil on linen 12"x16" (private collection) The shadows we cast onto our landscapes, and the spectres that seem so real but defy validation. We live in both the real and the imaginary. The painting in the painting exists as a separate study - see here. + Exhibitions: Finalist: 2022 “Lethbridge 20 000 Small Scale Art Award”, Lethbridge Gallery, Paddington QLD. Shortlist, 2021 “Into the Light”, Whitewall Art Prize, Berrima NSW. Painting recoloured 2022. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1570145537866-MN6VVS2S3EMT4GF0PIHL/IMG_1281.jpeg New Paintings - Sensual Ontographic Assemblage (Portrait of my wife), oil on linen 12"x16" 30x40cm A Portrait as a collection of objects, as an interrelationship between active personalities, concrete objects, some confusions, and some illusions. + Exhibitions: 2023, “SUPRA: 100 Years of Global Connections” International Student Lounge, The University of Sydney, NSW. Finalist: 2020 “Lethbridge 20 000 Small Scale Art Award” Lethbridge Gallery, Paddington QLD. Finalist: 2020 “Collie Art Prize” Collie Art Gallery, Collie WA. + Prints Available: https://www.pineapplegallery.com.au/buy-prints/simon-weir-sensual-ontographic-assemblage-portrait-of-my-wife/ Studies: Electrolyte Requiem. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1698729385842-3XMX98RI0A3XFG0GQMQX/No+Mooring+.jpg New Paintings - "No Mooring" (Romantic Freedom), oil on linen 42"x52" 107x132cm (private collection) Featured in Talking with Painters "Entrants to the 2024 Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes talk with Maria Stoljar" (YouTube) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1712025949907-IS1WST33DM4V5H2I0K75/Adjustments.jpg New Paintings - Blackfeather Sanctuary, oil on linen 12"x16" (private collection) In the infra-realism of object-oriented ontology, reality is withdrawn behind the sensual. Art’s sensual objects have conscious and unconscious qualities that generate convincing illusions of impossible objects. When the subject of art is the withdrawn real, we see concealing veils. The Blackfeather Sanctuary is celebrated and elevated while remaining withdrawn, veiled, decoyed, tended and guarded. + Exhibitions: Finalist: 2021 “Lethbridge 20 000 Small Scale Art Award”, Lethbridge Gallery, Paddington QLD. Bibliography: “Ontological Withdrawal and the Symbols of Symbolism” Senzacornice - Rivista online di arte contemporanea e critica, 23 “Simbolo”, Nov 2020 - Feb 2021. “Object Oriented Ontology and Architectural Darkness” 
Odyssey, Harvest, Sydney, 2021, pp.148-151. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1712025918872-FFID72471Z1WVA7G81P3/Adjustments.jpeg New Paintings - Spectre Cluster on the Wharf, oil on linen 12"x16" (private collection) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1711072336040-Y9SP3GXRNL2JLM3V40DW/Mama+Conducting+the+Fish.jpeg New Paintings - Trial (with Mama Conducting the Fish), oil on linen 12'x15" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1708062252785-NPWA7FLSK1C58PPZTMYX/IMG_9937.jpeg New Paintings - Desire Changing The Appearance of the World, oil on linen, (private collection) In this artwork we encounter a “painting within a painting.” Normally, when we look at a realistic painting on a wall, the image inside the frame provides contrast to the real world around us, making our reality feel more solid in contrast to the image’s fictional or abstract or theatrical world. The real world is one of the measures by which we assess the painting’s depicted world. However, in this piece, the small easel painting flips that logic. Here, the “meta-painting” inside the scene also borrows reality from its surroundings. Yet while the background satisfies our scenic sensibility, many of the details defy logic; it is an untrustworthy source of verification. In other words, the form makes us value the painted world inside the painting as if it holds its own layer of truth, a core layer, separate from context, more focussed and animating than the visible context, reversing the usual relationship between art and reality. Consequently, it is a painting that encourages you to look away from everyday reality, and focus on reaching in the pink vision. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1647064150323-MARRD6KFPZDXSSHIE2V4/Swan+and+Bucket.JPG New Paintings - Environmental Paradox (unfinished), oil on copper 30x40cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1666493192350-9270K9KXFEKFKWST2U4D/IMG_7415.JPG New Paintings - The Architectural Uncanny, oil on linen on board 35x27cm The Architectural Uncanny is a transitional painting, and return to dream-oriented, unconsciously figured, inspirationally motivated, Surrealism. Drawn in a Catalan cafe over 5 days, then painted with great intensity in two sessions one on Figueres then one in Sydney three years later. It depicts an unconscious, multi-generational, romantic idealisation in the appearance of four people, uncanny architecture, public sculpture and distant landscape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1712026114696-KF622QQQ8KCJFSP0P8B5/IMG_9724.jpg New Paintings - Inland catastrophe (what am i to do?), oil on linen, 15x12” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1766215055662-WTZQUA0UH44KQ0QFPK0O/IMG_5993.jpeg New Paintings - Anecdote, oil on linen, diptych 26x42" and 20x16" https://www.simonweir.net/anecdote https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1762077367103-ADMTEWOYI41CE4T0MJGI/IMG_3537.jpeg New Paintings - Live, oil on linen, 80"x42" https://www.simonweir.net/surreal-before2000 daily 0.75 2024-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1644635170948-ES80VEROHYIRF2NH1F9U/Bard.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - The bard, oil on linen 32"x26", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1644635170948-ES80VEROHYIRF2NH1F9U/Bard.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - The bard, oil on linen 32"x26", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1583904123971-XFO99O540HPPR99VFH1R/INdeterminate+2.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Indeterminate image, oil on linen, private collection Prints Available Here: https://www.pineapplegallery.com.au/buy-prints/simon-weir-indeterminate-image/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673570569-B3IROMSPYG77KC7NG41Q/DiscoveryMyth.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - 99% Myth-Free, oil on linen, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673583982-Y55THVIW46VM54DCCB29/Interpretation+of+Myth.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - 99% Myth-Free, oil on linen 34"x24" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673614393-RIO24FVWDG0XV7RWKJJP/Letter.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - The rhinoceros horn, oil on linen 18"x26", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1644635108556-VQLC57LOKLXVXATG8Q78/Pears.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - The Disintegration of a Pear, oil on copper 40x30cm, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673656587-T31XNPTKXHLGQWG26U4Y/Reservations+recolour.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Reservations, oil on linen 24"x32", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1670711581813-WKGY76W7J1JNW1S46L84/snakes.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Snakes entering a fanily of rocks, oil on paper, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1670711618032-7XNJB9B29JQCGL5Z6RFR/CelebrateMyth.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - 99% Myth-Free, oil on linen 36"x42", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677455605353-R6AHXLATU8XVKSTT2RKO/Man+with+Monkey.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Monkey, oil on linen 14"x28" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677456742586-UGRTC4E412W2M12U70QR/Zucchin+Pairs+copy.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Three ways of looking at time, oil on linen 12"x16", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677401092823-DATXRN4VIOKHJT2BAJOP/Suggestions.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Suggestion Box (Twilight of the Idol), oil on linen 25x35cm, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1670712003832-Y3B9M9TLK2MLIC7WE3I2/tree.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Smoking Tree, oil on linen 10"x10", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677548068591-XDE6GO5FBDN5J99EPS16/Photo699239337022_inner_136-457-573-442-142-733-575-725.jpeg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Feeding the birds, oil on canvas, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677455609144-CUZMTLDYWPKGBQUMGISY/Maternity.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Maternity, oil on linen 26"x32", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677548347910-JRG49P31XUG1OWS2SBWQ/Photo699239819884_inner_126-378-609-378-130-698-609-698.jpeg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Lion and Shadow, oil on paper, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1698730278802-O70BWYFJFHZOCVB17DZ2/Photo699239798316_inner_85-421-668-421-92-807-668-802.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - River Guide, oil on linen 24"x18", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677548767368-1ADRLCC69JP45ONUKZ5F/Photo699241471973_inner_99-285-533-291-99-572-531-573.jpeg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - The evolution of man, oil on linen, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677550692897-ZFCT39F6X9YL9XH0WPBY/Photo699239833008_inner_109-347-644-347-111-694-641-694.jpg Surreal Paintings before 2000 - Labour of Love (Which ever way you throw me, I will stand), oil on linen 28"x20", private collection https://www.simonweir.net/studies daily 0.75 2024-07-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513671790912-BH56C4FAMJHC580FDGCT/Valla+Beach.JPG Landscape Studies - Valla North Beach (dream painting with no visible dream signifiers), oil on linen 32"x26" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513671790912-BH56C4FAMJHC580FDGCT/Valla+Beach.JPG Landscape Studies - Valla North Beach (dream painting with no visible dream signifiers), oil on linen 32"x26" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513671717493-CC2X13Q1GVTGJR0KW8L2/jacaranda.jpg Landscape Studies - Jacaranda, oil on linen 42"x42", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513671754356-YALTQ7C8KE5YVHJE4M3O/Jacaranda+Day.jpg Landscape Studies - Jacaranda, oil on linen 24"x26", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1659216095929-PDCHJN7R4Y0GACKG83AE/Sky%2BPainting%2Bagain.jpg Landscape Studies - Sky painting again, oil on linen 32"x26" Sky painting again is the key work in this series conceptually, if not formally. It is a picture of the view from a road, on the journey home. The same power lines and the same trees making their way through the seasons again, a little taller. The title is inspired by the titles in some of Bob Dylan's 1960's songs, Absolutely Sweet Marie, and Obviously 5 Believers, and Approximately Queen Jane. The again in Sky painting again hints at a disappointment in the exhaustingly dull repetitiveness of daily life, the tedium of so many duties towards so many things, and the obvious spiritual advantage in finding beauty and wonder and complexity in everyday experiences. This affective dimension of the pictures in this series is combined here with a remark about the dull repetitive stupidity of even this task, of the low level of expectations we have for ourselves if we find that art aims merely at reminding us of this simple truth, and so this painting is also a kind of lament about low expectations, and the depravity of simplicity. This image appeared in another painting a decade later - see here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673416351-HVXK65Y8UMNVU21M8HII/winbourne+street.jpg Landscape Studies - Wind born, oil on linen 32"x26" Exhibitions: Finalist: Clouds3, Newcastle Art Space, Newcastle, NSW Finalist: Salon 21, Aarwun Gallery, Gold Creek, Canberra, ACT. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677455091854-2VDMC2BI10SKER8QWK6X/Esperance.jpg Landscape Studies - Esperence, 1 degree, oil on linen 42"x26", private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673451273-PQP6QPZ8DWARE3Y17TY8/Electrolyte.jpg Landscape Studies - Electrolyte Requiem, oil on linen 32"x12" Shining optimism in darkness. This reappeared in a painting a decade later - see here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673476151-35LHJ3KCSXELKOI5VJXX/Erosion.jpg Landscape Studies - Erosion and rain, oil on linen 32"x12" Exhibitions: Finalist: Salon 21, Aarwun Gallery, Gold Creek, Canberra, ACT. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677455389090-YE4KQ87MRONYO1G84N2L/Lichen.jpg Landscape Studies - Lichen, oil on copper 40x30cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1659216120089-7O6VWE69RZ109GHCF26Z/IMG_4186.jpg Landscape Studies - Mint, oil on copper 40x30cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677455319605-X5U5986BXJK3W4POPE3S/chair.jpg Landscape Studies - Chair, oil on linen 50x40cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677547852683-GFSMYPCMJ7GDQWQYBSJX/Photo699240029975_inner_211-335-504-340-211-774-499-774.jpeg Landscape Studies - Waterfall, oil on linen, 42”x60”, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677547804144-T3146O3SJG4BNJHQRTMP/Photo699240054946_inner_100-395-599-387-100-724-599-720.jpeg Landscape Studies - Yellow Sunset, oil on masonite 40x20cm, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677550734231-MJR2LWNSHQN3UD7L6726/Photo699240041262_inner_121-416-593-425-119-732-591-736.jpg Landscape Studies - Tarn, oil on masonite 40x20cm,, private collection https://www.simonweir.net/ibili daily 0.75 2024-09-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513672955849-5LL4ID3Q9D94LN69U4CD/Figure+in+a+landscepe.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Figure on a stoney beach Appears in: Vicarious Self-Portrait https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513672955849-5LL4ID3Q9D94LN69U4CD/Figure+in+a+landscepe.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Figure on a stoney beach Appears in: Vicarious Self-Portrait https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1726099793643-DDNXOXNLUJYPGEATTX1Q/Hunters%2BDog.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Hunter's Dog Bibliography: This is Not a Surrealism - A Manifesto for and against the Simulcara of Surrealism, Sydney: Apothecary Archive Publishing, 2024. This set of sculptures is heavily influenced by Picasso's 1930s Surrealist An Anatomy drawings, but more generally the aesthetic of sculptural assembly of sanded, curved, tree branches onto which I added hands and feet registering spontaneous anthropomorphism. Uniquely in this series, Hunter's Dog, included a large range of symbolic objects. Appears in: two black feathers boxed together https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513671609459-7EJRGMRHNKS8VQQ2UMUS/couple+holding+hands+in+a+landscape.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Couple yoked on a pebbly beach https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673145700-Z2PVRWRS9N02PD7UQ3CN/Figures+fruiting.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Figures Fruiting (private collection) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673275648-H0VT0M8AEBI4ECFCCDDP/reclining+figure+on+a+beach.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Figure reclining on a pebbly beach https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513671588153-N68GCBLOQQ8Y06M5938L/Couple+on+a+Beach.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Couple on a Beach https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673241347-RG1E33YHK1XQTVV8K9RR/Played.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Played (private collection) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513813327828-8JJRTVLHKNLNAXIWN1FW/Beachside.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Seaside https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513814469739-NHJZ0WWX8XQFP0DSLN8F/Figure+in+a+misty+landscape.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Figure in a misty landscape https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513672916009-FYPF09O109AQENWO93HP/Family+of+Figures.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Family https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513812926718-DLL0F4GQ9MFPQR03IX3A/Ibis.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673315484-NMZTFOZ0M1EQ902ABG9I/Woman+with+dog.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Woman with dog The similarity to Dali is most clear here, both the the use of "painter's plastic" sculpturing material that emerges when your colour spontaneously drawn shapes, but also in the landscape as this figure is on a stony beach in Cadaques. Images of the landscape around Dali's homes in, Cadaques, Port Lligat and Figueres, where I have been many times, occupy my imagination. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673032790-TL7B40MOZFDCLVE5EJPC/Figure+in+a+misty+landscape.jpg Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Figure in a misty landscape https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513672806750-9GG1IE7UEOAO6ZX7NPFY/Couple+relaxing+on+a+stoney+beach.JPG Watercolours of Sculptural Figures - Couple on a pebbly beach https://www.simonweir.net/surreal-paintings-2000-2010 daily 0.75 2024-05-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513740850530-IK0AF5D26F0M3Q99EXGD/image-asset.jpeg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - "Everytime I close my eyes, I see through what the light disguises" oil on masonite 64x44cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513740850530-IK0AF5D26F0M3Q99EXGD/image-asset.jpeg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - "Everytime I close my eyes, I see through what the light disguises" oil on masonite 64x44cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1607474384374-66P1HD75MK3NTNN38HP5/image-asset.jpeg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Presentation, oil on masonite 38x40cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513673681779-W2O1D8BPUSMYWAMQYKWI/image-asset.jpeg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Presentations, oil on masonite, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677456445779-XFLZEB9KLVGYK92GK04Q/Bob.jpg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Arrivals, oil on linen 32"x26" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513671458821-WT68FR61SDSF2O776CNO/image-asset.jpeg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Pan and Tmolus, oil on linen 32"x26" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513810654305-SNNDAGMIL65RMLUXR5HZ/image-asset.jpeg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Tmolus Pan, Midas and Tmolus, oil on copper 15x10cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677400751990-2KUEIT0DOCAP47X4WOL5/Myth+3.JPG Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Mercury and Argus, oil on linen on board 30x20cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677401222410-ZW7KLLX5NLMDOQ4V959J/elemental.jpg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Elemental, oil on masonite, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677401255869-GA8BQNRI36D9L41TH5DK/Bard+3.jpg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Bard 2, oil on copper, private collection https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677454940701-NIZQZVHZHJINL7UXFXQQ/Bard+2.jpg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - The Bard, oil on copper 30x40cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677401423119-IFCJMFEKWP3JF464K294/THS.jpg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Trance, oil on copper 60x25cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1513677951966-J83JCR54DYBMVP8HBXPE/image-asset.jpeg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Indeterminate Image, oil on linen https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1670711712477-HV9J87AKCTEY8DCKDWCJ/Myth+1.JPG Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Mercury and Argus, oil on copper 30x20cm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1677456319948-HDUX3WCNRNXKGG5K8AHN/presentation+copy.jpg Surreal Paintings 2000-2010 - Presentation, oil on board https://www.simonweir.net/about daily 0.75 2026-02-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/f27928dd-79f7-493b-8656-68c7f286073d/DSCF8851-A+copy+-+top.jpg About - SIMON WEIR Simon Weir is a contemporary painter whose work explores how objects think, feel, and act within images. Working within and beyond the legacy of Surrealism, his paintings treat objects not as symbols or metaphors, but as active agents that shape perception, emotion, and belief. Everyday things—eggs, furniture, clouds, architectural fragments—are rendered with meticulous clarity, yet arranged into scenes that resist narrative resolution. Weir’s practice is informed by philosophy, architectural theory, and the history of Surrealism, particularly its concern with the unconscious and the limits of rational vision. Rather than illustrating ideas, his paintings function as ontographic devices: images that stage encounters between objects, qualities, and viewers, allowing meaning to emerge slowly and indirectly. Executed in fine oil painting, his works cultivate a calm, lucid atmosphere in which strangeness appears precise rather than theatrical. The result is a form of contemporary Surrealism that is neither nostalgic nor ironic, but committed to the image as a site of serious thought. Weir lives and works in Sydney. For Curators Simon Weir’s practice is concerned with how images think—specifically, how objects within images generate meaning independently of narrative or symbolism. Working through painting, he treats the image as a testing ground for perception: a place where objects, qualities, and spatial relations can be arranged to produce effects that are emotional, philosophical, and experiential rather than illustrative. His work is situated within the legacy of Surrealism, but approaches it as an ongoing method rather than a historical style. The paintings resist irony and nostalgia, favouring clarity, slowness, and precision. This allows exhibitions to operate not as spectacles, but as sustained encounters with images that unfold over time. Weir’s work is well suited to exhibitions concerned with contemporary surrealism, objecthood, ontology, architecture, and the afterlives of modernism. His practice can anchor solo presentations or function as a conceptual hinge within group exhibitions that examine perception, the unconscious, and the status of images today. For Collectors These paintings are made to be lived with slowly. At first glance, they appear calm, lucid, and carefully composed. Over time, their strangeness deepens rather than resolves. Objects seem familiar yet slightly displaced, as if they are quietly insisting on their own inner life. Weir’s work does not rely on shock or overt symbolism. Instead, it rewards sustained attention, revealing subtle shifts in mood, meaning, and association the longer one spends with it. The images resist being “used up” by quick interpretation, which allows them to remain compelling over many years. Painted in oil with a high level of finish and care, the works are materially traditional while conceptually contemporary. They sit comfortably within domestic or institutional spaces, offering a sense of calm that coexists with a persistent, thoughtful unease—an atmosphere that continues to give something back to the viewer. For Researchers / Writers Weir’s practice intersects with Surrealist theory, philosophical ontology, and architectural thinking, particularly questions around objecthood, perception, and the limits of rational vision. His paintings can be understood as ontographic: images that stage relationships between objects and qualities without subordinating them to narrative or metaphor. Rather than illustrating theory, the work operates alongside it. Influences include Surrealist approaches to the unconscious, philosophical accounts of objects and qualities, and architectural modes of spatial reasoning. The paintings propose images as sites of thought—places where meaning emerges through encounter rather than explanation. This positioning allows the work to be discussed across disciplines, including art history, philosophy, architectural theory, and aesthetics, while remaining grounded in the material and historical practice of painting. Academic and Institutional Affiliations In addition to his painting practice, Simon Weir is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney’s School of Architecture, Design & Planning. His academic role and public lectures complement his artistic work, offering collectors and institutions a deeper engagement with the philosophical and surrealist themes in his paintings. He is also a member of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism and serves on the editorial collective of the International Journal of Surrealism. Contacts : EMAIL INSTAGRAM simon_weir The views expressed on this site do not reflect those of the University of Sydney ++ https://www.simonweir.net/artistresume daily 0.75 2026-01-29 https://www.simonweir.net/talksandtexts daily 0.75 2026-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1771829546185-9GCUIYB38ZSRUK1BEA96/3x4+Mosman+Art+gallery+Talk+Poster.jpg Public Talks and Texts Art Lecture: Surrealism’s Slippery Surface Join Surrealism scholar Simon Weir for an engaging exploration of Surrealism’s profound philosophical and psychological dimensions. We’ll trace how André Breton, Salvador Dalí, and especially René Magritte advanced automatism from its roots in spiritualism to a powerful means of accessing the unconscious, shifting from physical techniques like automatic writing toward deeper psychological insights that could be communicated through text, image, object, cinema and architecture. https://mosmanartgallery.org.au/event/art-lecture/ https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/3daa267b-923d-43dd-9975-7db45cd2a48e/Art+Appreciation+2026++Art+Gallery+of+NSW.png Public Talks and Texts Art Appreciation Lecture Salvador Dalí: painting the unconscious Discover how Salvador Dalí transformed the unconscious into art. Dalí’s extraordinary technique turned dreams, phantoms, and irrational objects into luminous visions. Drawing on his own writings, including 50 Secrets of Magical Craftsmanship, this lecture reveals how Dalí fused reason with delusion, and observation with invention, to make visible the mechanics of thought itself. Art Gallery of NSW Wednesday 17 June 2026, 6–7pm Thursday 18 June 2026, 1–2pm Tickets on AGNSW Websise https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/961d42aa-962f-4082-a438-d5a778eae6df/Simon+AGNSW+Nov+2024+copy.jpg Public Talks and Texts Learning Curve Lectures René Magritte: The Treachery of Images The Art Gallery of NSW, November 2024. Sold Out Listen: Interview about Learning Curve Lecture Series on East Side Radio, 1 November 2024. The Art Gallery of NSW Members Instagram post of a snippet of the talk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/39034ef5-d395-4017-b538-56cacb311ef3/Screenshot+2024-12-13+at+7.43.06%E2%80%AFpm.png Public Talks and Texts This is Not a Surrealism - A Manifesto for and against the Simulacra of Surrealism Sydney: Apothecary Archive Publishing, 2024. A$25 + Postage Listen: Interview about This is not a Surrealism on East Side Radio, 1 November 2024. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/74dd3b67-04cf-4b89-94f9-14549bb7d4c4/Magic+Art+Deluze+Cover.jpg Public Talks and Texts Published Response to André Breton André Breton, Magic Art (Special Edition), André Breton, Magic Art (Deluxe Edition), London: Fulgur Press, 2024. £425, £150 + Postage In 1953, Breton asked thrity two surrealists and authors - from Heidegger to Magritte - a series of questions about magic and art, and published them in Magic Art. For the 2024 edition, thirty two contemporary surrealists and authors - including Weir - provided new answers to those same questions. Available in Magic Art Redux, in the Deluxe and Special Editions of Magic Art. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/d5de7064-fa4a-4656-8694-cc4b4a029077/IMG_4561.jpeg Public Talks and Texts Research Article Dalí, S.,Weir, S. (2025) “Salvador Dalí at MoMA’s 1958 Gaudí Symposium” International Journal of Surrealism, 3(1), 138-142. [link] US$19 (PDF) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/69481d92-f9de-4bac-8fae-91527f8a9c6e/Screenshot+2025-07-29+at+4.57.19%E2%80%AFpm.png Public Talks and Texts Research Article Weir, S. (2022) “Salvador Dalí in Rem Koolhaas’ Delirious New York” Journal of Architceture, 27(2-3), 398-419. [link] US$63 (PDF) https://www.simonweir.net/portrait-of-my-wife daily 0.75 2023-10-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1581948088645-Q9UETDY8RM0TZXYS0V1C/Portrait+of+my+wife.jpg About " Sensual Ontographic Assemblage (Portrait of my wife)" Sensual Ontographic Assemblage (Portrait of my wife) Oil on Linen, 40x30cm Exhibitions: 100 Years of Global Connections, International Student Lounge, University of Sydney, NSW, 2023 Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine Contest, 2022, finalist, https://circle-arts.com/ Collie Art Prize, WA, 2020, finalist Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, QLD, 2020, finalist Prints Available Here: https://www.pineapplegallery.com.au/buy-prints/simon-weir-sensual-ontographic-assemblage-portrait-of-my-wife/ Relative size of paintings shown below. These pairings subvert the usual study and finished piece by making the study the larger and more polishged rendering of the piece. Togather, they represent the radically large effect that context has on how we perceive objects. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/d1813588-a54f-4656-870b-f29515037aac/Portrait+of+my+wife+and+Electrolyte.jpg About " Sensual Ontographic Assemblage (Portrait of my wife)" Relative sizes. Priase for studies. These pairings subvert the usual distinction between studies and finished paintings whereby the study is the larger and more highly polished objerct https://www.simonweir.net/ontographic-art daily 0.75 2025-07-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/2c304d88-bf7f-4d9d-9597-e866dbb05804/Screenshot+2024-12-13+at+7.51.11%E2%80%AFpm.png Ontographic Art https://www.simonweir.net/shipwreck-theatre daily 0.75 2025-09-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/33818556-eb8f-43fa-9292-a40cb151d326/ef9403d1-86c3-4220-99ea-ac1aeeee88e7_simonweir_shipwreck_theatre_on_a_rocky_coast_dramatic_lighting_photorealistic_calm_weather+copy.png Shipwreck Theatre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/f1743ee2-9add-4c5c-8040-8f0f3cac68a5/simonweir_shipwreck_theatre_dramatic_lighting_stormy_sea_volume_b46634ea-6b69-4bb6-9e1e-40f65d2e08e7.png Shipwreck Theatre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/752d673c-8bee-4daf-8255-bbec62f2e8d9/66b6b5a2-49b4-403d-b020-b5808785de70_simonweir_shipwreck_theatre_on_a_rocky_coast_dramatic_lighting_photorealistic_calm_weather+copy.png Shipwreck Theatre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/ce4f7826-76dd-48b7-b351-b95e76df634a/simonweir_shipwreck_theatre_dramatic_lighting_stormy_sea_volume_aaeb8862-b18b-4e75-8ff0-af366f402738.png Shipwreck Theatre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1668138049531-0CFMUJ7UFLJ93LPER74V/a170df90-a29c-45bb-8736-58d0ea787516_simonweir_looking_across_water_at_a_beach_with_a_theatre_at_the_end_of_a_pier.png Shipwreck Theatre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1668138251544-2IDUMACKONRTZIPFFUIZ/simonweir_Ontographic+bridge.png Shipwreck Theatre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1668138311534-9J0RKLC5JZ6CEGD7EJ9O/6c38d71f-926f-40a5-9955-5fd6484e28c2_simonweir_huge_scene_stormy_sea_islands_with_towns_floods_landslides_rain_photorealism_fractal_detail_volumetr.png Shipwreck Theatre https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/44bfbeab-fc5d-4394-bbd6-65ce6259943c/simonweir_surreal_shipwreck_theatre_dramatic_lighting_ultrareal_c11091d4-0346-4580-9571-5e85d8719315.PNG Shipwreck Theatre - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.simonweir.net/exquisite-corpse-vaults daily 0.75 2025-03-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1651375594383-ZYFGCY3LKYCARRGY7FBL/Uluru024%2B-%2BMeeting%2BBuilding%2BPerspective%2Band%2BPlan.jpg Exquisite Corpse Vaults - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1613134663255-IPMGRO40ZEPUH1J5VI29/4+Whole+Bulding+in+Landscape.jpg Exquisite Corpse Vaults - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1613134661037-R083UJHLEAW3TLC8OIBY/5+Whole_Plan_and_model.jpg Exquisite Corpse Vaults - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1613134538716-UV5EEN3BJQDD9ZW1PEH1/2018+Vault+on+Black.jpg Exquisite Corpse Vaults - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1613134623476-L6AFLLJY9CO5D8MKOW22/11+Vault+-+Sides+-+o+Black.jpg Exquisite Corpse Vaults - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1613134630710-47WM067KX2FJD9Y22JV0/10a+Vault+-+Assembly.jpg Exquisite Corpse Vaults - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1613134455002-0SXN3MFB6ZMA2L49RPNF/Laura+Payne+1.png Exquisite Corpse Vaults - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.simonweir.net/irrational-architecture daily 0.75 2025-08-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/0d7899b7-5235-4074-b901-dd36cc52eec0/LAST.jpg Surreal Architecture We first saw the new ultralight weight architecture, when these huge air conditioners were suspended over the streets, digital image, 2009. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/f2c62ff8-2038-41ae-a3a9-c3fa03a8b75c/hanged+man.jpg Surreal Architecture Sacrifical Architecture, digital Image, 2009. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/4f555726-1856-4721-89c5-5463991d011f/6.jpg Surreal Architecture - Make it stand out Seagram Series 8 (Invasive Architecture), digital image, 2009. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/f418a3dc-0113-4b21-9d7e-243781559511/7.jpg Surreal Architecture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/20119b21-c95f-4322-a1a9-077e6f38ff2b/seagram+bldg+3+arrows.jpg Surreal Architecture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/ee3339d9-74ae-483b-8050-dfdbf1fbb5fd/blobber+1.jpg Surreal Architecture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/ab48ab47-5fab-4ba8-b7d6-101e3f3b35b3/seagram+bldg+6.jpg Surreal Architecture - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/f7c8124d-a7cf-4fe7-b2af-0166c8078fea/seagram+bldg+4.jpg Surreal Architecture https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/0879131b-052b-49be-8a84-5b8148c8b56d/urban+form.jpg Surreal Architecture - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/38726568-e8cd-4563-a6ac-0025a1bc2704/urban+form+3+H.jpg Surreal Architecture - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1664528a-333f-43e8-8b2d-f6d65071fbda/BODY.jpg Surreal Architecture Variations on Utzon’s shells, ink and pencil on paper, 2008 https://www.simonweir.net/anecdote daily 0.75 2026-01-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a38c974aeb62568136c1154/1766215055662-WTZQUA0UH44KQ0QFPK0O/Anecdote+-+chair+left.jpg "Anecdote" Sensual Ontographic Assemblage (Portrait of my wife) Oil on Linen, 40x30cm Exhibitions: 100 Years of Global Connections, International Student Lounge, University of Sydney, NSW, 2023 Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine Contest, 2022, finalist, https://circle-arts.com/ Collie Art Prize, WA, 2020, finalist Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, QLD, 2020, finalist Prints Available Here: https://www.pineapplegallery.com.au/buy-prints/simon-weir-sensual-ontographic-assemblage-portrait-of-my-wife/ Relative size of paintings shown below. These pairings subvert the usual study and finished piece by making the study the larger and more polishged rendering of the piece. Togather, they represent the radically large effect that context has on how we perceive objects. https://www.simonweir.net/subscribe daily 0.75 2025-12-29