Exhibition Offers Glowing ‘Night Visions’

Duncan Simcoe, a Southern California artist and former chair of the College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design at California Baptist University in Riverside, offers his signature limited-palette paintings on dark construction-grade tar paper in Night Visions: The Black Drawings of Duncan Simcoe, 2014-2024 from Aug. 29 to Nov. 9 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. Meet the artist at a free public opening reception on Thursday, Aug. 29, from 4-6 pm.

Actually paintings, Simcoe’s monochromatic oil washes and sketch-like delineation resemble large-scale drawings. “Rather than focusing on particular subjects, his work explores personal and historical situations, often through a spiritual lens. The resulting images are extraordinary,” says Judy L. Larson, Askew professor of art history and museum director.

Simcoe, who earned a Master of Fine Art at Long Beach State, brushes luminous oil paint onto the paper before adding phosphorescent greens and rusty earth tones, which seem to emit an eerie glow.

“The imagery is often quirky, causing the viewer to pause and ponder the content, striving to understand the meanings behind his juxtaposed images,” says Chris Rupp, curator and collections manager at the museum. “The content may at first seem ordinary, but there is an inexplicable presence in his works as well.”

Simcoe’s faith is rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy, where contemplative practices are intended to reveal divine presence. The rich blackness offers the viewer a glance into the mysterious state of cosmic darkness.

Independent curator and art historian Gordon L. Fuglie, whose most recent publication is Julia Morgan: The Road to San Simeon, Visionary Architect of the California Renaissance (Rizzoli, 2022), serves as guest curator for the exhibition. California Baptist helped fund the exhibition along with other generous supporters, including Kent and Heidi Anderson Butler, Sandra Bowden, Dirk Dallas, Ken and Francie Jewesson, Christopher and Benjamin Pagdilao, Theodore and Catherine Prescott, and Marcia Rickard and Dennis Doordan.