JOEL Simon arrived in Belfast from Belgium, drawn by the lure of an animation course. He had been inspired by the cartoon Tintin as a child and loved the storytelling flow of cartoon books. He had previously studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Liège.
But on the first day of the course in Belfast he felt there was too much theory and he dropped out. Charming a stallholder in Smithfield Market, he decided to teach himself how to do stop-motion animation using plasticine characters he developed himself. With the space in Smithfield as his studio, he took two years to develop a short film under the title of Hola Lola Animation. The awards he won brought him to the attention of the media locally and, doing the "ultimate elevator pitch", he found himself in a lift selling the idea of a stop-motion animation for the late Gerry Anderson's radio show.
A commission followed, as did more awards, but the glare of the TV industry started to fade after a while and on a trip to the States for a media conference, while bored one day he walked into an Edward Hopper exhibition. Like many artist before him, he was struck by the immediacy and intimacy of the painter's art – seeing the actual brush strokes and the accessibility of another human's desire to create.
So Simon moved away from animation and into paint. His first exhibition held in the Belfast City Visitors' Centre; he has captured characters around Belfast in all their glory for the Belfast International Festival; and he has exhibited in the Royal Academy annual exhibition a number of times. 'Nocturnes' at the University of Atypical captures Belfast at night. The oil paintings are very much inspired by that visit to the Edward Hopper exhibition, capturing the harsh glare of night light and often isolated people in city streets. They are cinematic, pensive and thoughtful.
For some, walking our city's streets at night can be menacing; for others simply a background to a great night out. There is a uniformity of approach to the textures on the canvas surface. While some wonder why he moved away from animation and TV, the results of his artistic fork-in-the-road are enduring and show his eye for capturing Belfast and its metamorphosis in a way that requires an artist to step back from enjoying a night out and being inspired by a moment in time.
Nocturnes by Joel Simon at the University of Atypical,109-113 Royal Avenue, runs until the end of January.
The Chinese New Year is on February 10 and the British Council have some great resources to help primary schools celebrate what will be the Year of the Dragon.
An educational pack helps teachers and pupils explore Chinese language and culture and with it they can get creative making dragon puppets and designs for ceramics and long scrolls. If that's not enough, there are resources on practising vocabulary and calligraphy.
Or did you know you can actually get a Mandarin language assistant for your primary school – or share one with others? In an increasingly globally connected world, this can bring China alive to students.
Details at www.BritishCouncil.org
