About The Simon Drew Gallery

Simon and Caroline Drew opened their Dartmouth gallery in the 1980’s and have made a happy niche for themselves in the beautiful town.

Simon produces unique (some say quirky) drawings and sells his originals all over the world.

Many of his designs feature in his books of illustrated nonsense verse and on greetings cards, mugs, tea towels, tablemats, and coasters, a selection of which you’ll find in the Mail Order Catalogue section on this site.

Those drawings that remain in their original form (rather than those produced for greetings cards and other products) are graphic representations of Simon’s idiosyncratic view of the world.

Simon is a trained zoologist and much of his work features wildlife, but a creature might be depicted in an unusual environment or with bizarre accoutrements – whilst usually staying faithful to the basic anatomy of the animal. These drawings are not cartoons. He has a sharp sense of the absurd, relishing making incongruous images but avoids resorting to simple caricature in these original pieces. Nevertheless, some originals are laced with humour – as in this example, a drawing called ‘The Disguise’.

A strong influence on his approach to art has been Paul Klee, agreeing with that artist’s stated aim of “trying not to reproduce the visible but to make visible”.

Simon is nevertheless a self-declared humourist – describing himself as “half artist, half wit” (ever the keen punster.) He has a sharp sense of the absurd and loves to create incongruous images, but tries not to resort to simple caricature.

Simon Drew exhibits in his own gallery and in the Chris Beetles Gallery, St James, London.

The publishers of his books are ACC in Suffolk, and in the USA his cards are published in Salt Lake City and distributed by Sugarhouse Designs.