By Justine Chahal
When a young Gerry Simpson passed by Alexander’s, a department store located in Passaic, New Jersey where he grew up, he would make sure to look at the side of the building.
There, Simpson would find a large abstract painting. Simpson marveled at the work, remembering it fondly for years after, seeking to create his own version of this mural. Now, the 70-year-old Simpson creates his own abstract art, reveling in the freedom the style provides him and the viewer.
“If I paint a tree, I’ve already thought for you because now there’s a tree on the painting but if I do an abstract piece, you might see anything in that,” Simpson says. “It gives you freedom to think however you want to think. I think that’s my job as an artist, to give people freedom. I don’t want to dictate to you what you should see.”
Gerry Simpson, the self-taught artist also known as GOS, resides in Elk Grove where he paints and creates his own clothing. His artwork can be seen at UC Davis Medical Center and Warehouse Artist Lofts. His abstract paintings involve simple shapes with a fixation on circles, which symbolize a sense of completion, Simpson says.
Simpson has recently displayed his work “Urban Distractions” during a solo show hosted at ARTHOUSE on R Street where he had once had a racist experience over 20 years ago. He says now he has come full circle as an artist, not allowing himself or others to discourage him from making art.
“I’ve been doing art in Sacramento for the last 25 years and it’s been a true blessing, just the opportunity to have some place to show what you do because you got to think about the fact that many people that are artists never get a chance to display their stuff in places,” Simpson says. “I find myself to be fortunate that I’ve been able to display quite a bit.”
Simpson has been making art from a young age. As a child living in New Jersey, he says he entered drawing and painting competitions. Simpson also became interested in fashion, partially influenced by the flashy clothing he saw entertainers wear at the Apollo Theater in New York City when he attended a show there.
When Simpson didn’t have the means to buy the clothes he wanted as a child, he decided to create them instead. His family supported his creativity, Simpson says, citing his mother as a major influence because she taught him how to sew and even contacted his school’s board of education to ask if Simpson could take art classes instead of woodworking, which had been a requirement for boys where he attended.
Simpson, who has a twin sibling, says he grew up telling himself he wouldn’t look like anybody else as he became older. Simpson’s art not only acts as a form of self-expression, but illustrates his individuality during a time where people feel the need to make the same thing over and over again, he says.
“People are waiting for ideas to drop so they can pick them up and use them,” Simpson says. “What I love about being an artist, I have a right to make something that you don’t like and at the end of the day, if you do like it, that’s fine but I got it out of my system. I had a chance to express myself.”
Simpson originally came to California after winning a trip to Hollywood for designing clothes in 1982. He hopes to see more places in Sacramento become available for artists to display their work, saying that there were many places to show work when he first came to the city in 1999.
For now, Simpson says he will keep on painting in an effort to leave his mark on the world. “I read about a lot of artists that didn’t have a lot of work left behind once they leave the earth so I’m trying to leave as much behind as I possibly can,” Simpson says. “I just want to leave a footprint behind, as did the cave people…I’m doing my version of painting on the wall.”