simon rai

Simon’s paintings are semi-autobiographical, the figures and backdrops modelled after the people and places in his life. In particular, the paintings often portray the specific experiences of growing up in the English military towns to which his Gurkha family relocated. In doing so, these scenes reach into more fundamental and widely shared themes of dislocation, desire, and wonder. He’s particularly interested in the space between what is lived and what is imagined, and how what emerges from the space where these two worlds interact and overlap and often contradict each other often offers a more faithful account of lived experience.

Simon graduated in 2026 from the Slade School of Fine Art (MFA Fine Art Painting); he also holds a BA in Fine Art from Central St Martins.

IG: @simonrai_