Gallery Presentation

Dom Simon, born in 1964 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, lives and works in Lyon. Originally trained in industrial design and applied arts, and later working as an illustrator in advertising, Simon has now fully dedicated himself to the visual arts.

His technique merges classic tradition with innovation: he combines pastel chalks, colored pencils, and ballpoint pens on large-format sheets of paper. By working finely and densely with pencils, then rubbing and scratching the surface with sandpaper, blades, or tools, he achieves unique light effects and textures. Simon’s practice blends drawing, photo collages, and film, with the blur of vertical lines serving as a deliberate tool to evoke memory and the act of forgetting.

At DRAWING NOW, Simon presents a series of drawings that act as windows into mental spaces where figures seem to float—spaces that inspire fleeting thoughts, possible relationships, and dreams of desired or dreaded presences. These works invite viewers to stretch time, explore their own narratives, and connect to a collective unconscious, offering the possibility of discovering new paths.

Simon’s nuanced use of blur reflects the passage of time and ephemeral nature of memory. “Why do we produce images? To capture a feeling, a moment, or an inner vision?” Through contradictory and complementary references, Simon’s work exists at the intersection of opposites: classicism and modernity, photography and painting, smooth yet scarified surfaces, movement and stillness, reality and dream. His art is an interplay of contrasts, offering poetic reflections on memory, transience, and human connection.