Composing geometric, small-scale paintings in acrylic, layered color on color and richly textured with a seemingly waxy patina, Simpson’s patterns suggest a plaid, or woven sheets of translucent color.  Her perfectly square compositions bring to life fields of color with the subtle extractions of hidden layers peeking through open spaces, deliberately spaced at some times like tiny windows, at other times spanning the sweep of the brushstroke. 

Simpson concerns herself conceptually with celebrating the ordinary rather than the dramatic.  By layering the paint, she mimics life’s layering of events.  As color and surface signify moments, so she accumulates time on her canvas.  The abstract images before her evolve into languages of memory. “The result,” she states, “is a language of memory which connects the personal present with the reach of the past.”

Hester Simpson is included in many public collections around the country and has taught at a number of institutions, including Parsons School of Design in New York, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, among others.  She lives and works in the Manhattan area.