Estelle Simpson (b. 2001, Leeds) is a painter, writer and curator who lives and works in South London. In smooth, careful oils, Simpson shifts between scales—intimate animal studies sit alongside figures portraited in life size. Her process is intentionally internal, eschewing sitters, life models and photographs to paint entirely from her mind’s eye.

Under Simpson’s delicate brush, human, animal and object are at once alive: curtains bristle in windowless rooms; the scarlet velvets of an armchair breathe as deeply as the girls hunched atop their cushions. Drawing from the rich histories of Surrealist and Symbolist art, and that of balletic performance, Simpson treats everyday minutiae with reverence. A kitten’s paw, a compact mirror, an untied bow: we glimpse motifs as they slide backstage, only to reappear on another canvas; costume-changed and dancing a new routine. With slender crops and flickering spotlights, Simpson’s compositions set an otherworldly stage for the pleasures and struggles we once thought we knew.

Simpson graduated from Camberwell College of Arts, London, in 2023, and was selected for that year’s inaugural New Blood Emerging Art Prize showcase at Saatchi Gallery. She has since exhibited across the capital, including a solo survey at Tache Gallery and group shows at Norito Gallery, Outhouse Gallery and Southwark Park Galleries. Simpson is co-founder of the curatorial collective Disrupting Mythologies, whose projects include HEIST at SET Woolwich, and has recently released her first publication in collaboration with South London art bookmakers Shoe Box.