The bold use of colour is the first thing to strike the viewer when confronted with the work of Simon Welch. Welch manipulates the raw energy of the pigments, often straight from the tube, juxtaposing the brilliant hues to equate colour with abstracted forms which are essentially non-figurative and yet ultimately conjure a dialectic of organic and machine imagery to mind. Fronds of paint appear to 'grow' across the canvas, counteracted by the elementary, quasi-geometric forms. This is no simple dialectic, rather, colour codifies the forms, and sets up spatial relationships and a tensile enegy within the work.
Colour works on many levels, primarily as a manipulator of form, volume and distance.
It confronts the spectator and continually redefines areas with numerous spatial possibilities. The ambiguous relationships created within the pictorial space obtain their rationale through the positions of coloured forms. Welch is not limited in his use of colour, preferring to explore a wide range of colour relationships. He spent one year in Egypt, making and exhibiting work and accedes that this has influenced his use of striking pigments. He acknowledges his debt to Cubism but has moved on from his early relationship with this style.