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British artist Simon Bull designed 'Get On Up' for the Music in the Plaza concert series.
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England's Simon Bull brings his colorful art to Los Gatos
By Shari Kaplan
This summer has been something of a British invasion for the town of Los Gatos. First the Beatles exhibit at Forbes Mill Regional History Museum, and now the presence of Simon Bull, considered the leading contemporary visual artist in the United Kingdom.
Bull, who lives in England's Lake District with his wife and children, designed and painted the colorfully blaring saxophone that graces the posters for the 1999 Music in the Plaza concert series, which takes place Sundays from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Town Plaza.
The painting, titled Get on Up, came about thanks to Mary McCarthy, director of The Virtual Gallery in downtown Los Gatos and a friend of Bulls. Together with input from Los Gatan John Tice, a longtime volunteer fund-raiser for Music in the Plaza, McCarthy asked Bull if he would create a design reflecting the spirit of the concerts. He gladly complied, and the jazzy sax is the result. Bull has also made The Virtual Gallery the venue for his United States premiere exhibition of paintings, monotypes and etchings.
"An artist of this magnitude wouldn't normally do a poster. Since we are part of the community, we thought it befitting to try to bring in a famous artist to do this," McCarthy says.
"John [Tice] was instrumental in helping us determine the type of work Simon should create for the poster. We're very fortunate to have him as a patron of the gallery," she adds.
Bull holds a bachelor's degree in fine art from the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design at Leeds Polytechnic, but his proficiency began much earlier. By the time he was a teenager, in fact, he was selling paintings to his school instructors.
"When I was at school, I was interested in painting but it's not like I decided I wanted to be an artist. It's more like I gradually came to terms with the fact that I was one," Bull said in a telephone interview from England. Combining his academic degree and inborn talents led to a career that is not only successful, but one he truly loves.
"When you do it on the level that I do, it goes much deeper than just a hobby. It's kind of like learning the piano. At first you're really concentrating on the scales and where your fingers should go. Later on, you just play," says Bull, whose patrons include England's royal family.
"That's sort of like me when I'm painting. I don't focus too much on the technical elements of art. I just go with the flow of it. It's a very intense, intuitive process for me."
The public is invited to meet Bull at receptions on July 16 and 17, 6 to 9 p.m., at 105 N. Santa Cruz Ave. Call 399-3456 for more information.
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