Simon Bull (born in June 1958) is an English-born artist now living in America.[1]
Simon attended Gloucestershire College of Art and Design, followed by Leeds Polytechnic where he graduated with Honors and his BA in Fine Art.
He began his professional career with his first one man show in Hong Kong in 1976. He has since held exhibitions throughout Great Britain, in Amsterdam, Paris, Bologna Italy, Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong and numerous places in North America. He gained recognition early on in his career for his detailed etchings and watercolors, but in the early nineties the artist developed his style using bold colors and a more gestural painting style acrylic paints. Mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed Simon Bull to be "One of the most popular and collected living artists of our time" and His work was labeled as "a breath of fresh air" by the New York Daily News.
In 2000 he won the [Art Trade Guild] award (Artist Print Award) for the top selling original print artist in Great Britain and was short listed for the best selling published artist award in 1997 and again 2000. In 2002 He was the official artist for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
The National Association of Limited Edition Dealers (NALED) recognized Simon Bull's artwork with an award for being, "The most outstanding in artistic quality and public appeal during 2003 and 2004." In addition, he was commended with the Medal of Honor for his artistic services to the Industry. Increasing interest in his work among American collectors led him to California in 2003, where he currently lives and paints from his studio in the Monterey Bay area.
In 2009 he was commissioned to paint US President Barack Obama by Muhammad Ali, and his two joint portraits of Barack Obama and Muhammad Ali were unveiled at the Kentucky Bluegrass Ball on the eve of the Presidential Inauguration in Washington DC, by actress Ashley Judd