JOE SIMMS

Joe Simms has been a popular artist in the three previous HAI Survey shows. He has painted since he was a teenager. He uses any materials that he can find. He has painted on paper bags, wood, old cabinets, doors and windows. His sister says, “It’s gotta come out, one way or another. If you don’t give him supplies, he paints on windows, windshields, anything.”

Joe does not communicate about what he has in mind when he creates an image, but his work has a consistent style reflecting beauty, bright colors and, perhaps above all, a humanistic passion that is both sophisticated and simplistic at once.

Now in his early 60’s, Simms' mother cooked at a truck stop. His father was a farm laborer. Joe left school to find work in grade school. He began painting at age 14, using materials at hand. He still uses whatever materials he has available.