Nasce a Pasadena, California nel 1928. Si forma alla California School of Fine Arts e al San Francisco State College. Nel 1954 è co-fondatore della Six Gallery a San Francisco con W. Hedrick, D. Remington, J. Ryan, H. King e J. Spicer, dove Allen Ginsberg realizza la celebre Gallery Six reading, considerata la prima manifestazione della Beat Generation (7 ottobre 1955). Dal 1959 Simpson accosta la pratica artistica a quella dell’insegnamento, che mantiene fino al 1990. L’artista esplora le varie possibilità dell’astrazione sin dai primi anni ’50; negli anni ’70, si dedica ad un’astrazione riduttiva mantenendo dei riferimenti al paesaggio che abbandona nel 1987 grazie alla scoperta di un nuovo mezzo acrilico che lo porta al monocromo e alla realizzazione degli  Interference Paintings.

SELEZIONE ESPOSIZIONI PERSONALI: 

1958

San Francisco, San Francisco Art Association Gallery

1959

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco, David Cole Gallery

1960

Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

1961

New York, Robert Elkon Gallery

1962

Chicago, Paul Joachim Gallery
San Francisco, David Cole Gallery

1964

New York, Robert Elkon Gallery
Los Angeles, David Stuard Gallery

1967

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Ten Year Retrospective
Los Angeles, David Stuart Gallery

1968

Washington, Henri Gallery

1969

San Francisco, Van der Voort Gallery

1971

San Francisco, Hank Baum Gallery

1978

Oakland, Oakland Museum of California

1979

San Francisco, Modernism

1983

Sacramento, American River College Art Gallery

1990

San Francisco, Mincher Wilcox Gallery, Recent Paintings
Lincoln, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Solo

1991

Los Angeles, Angles Gallery, Large Paintings
San Francisco, Mincher Wilcox Gallery, Small Paintings

1992

New York, Anthony Ralph Gallery, New Paintings
San Francisco, Mincher Wilcox Gallery, Recent Paintings

1993

San Francisco, Mincher Wilcox Gallery, Illuminations – Works on Paper

1994

San Francisco, John Berggruen Gallery, Silvers, Blues and Greys

1995

Laguna Beach, Laguna Art Museum, Works from the Collection
Santa Fe, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Paintings

1997

Verona, Studio La Città
San Francisco, Haines Gallery, Paintings

2000

Colonia, Renate Schroder Gallerie
San Francisco, Haines Gallery, 12 x 12

2001

Verona, Studio La Città, David Simpson
Colonia, Renate Schroder Galerie, Neue Bilder
San Francisco, Modernism, Paintings of the ’70 and ‘80s

2003

Santa Fe, James Kelly Contemporary, Interference Paintings

2004

San Francisco, Haines Gallery, Metallics

2005

Houston, Gallery Sonja Roesch, Iridescent Interference
San Francisco, Haines Gallery, Surrealist Landscapes and Other Departures

2007

Verona, Studio La Città, David Simpson
San Francisco, Haines Gallery, Light Wells

2009

San Francisco, Modernism, Paintings & Works on Paper

2010

Santa Fe, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Interference Blues

2011

San Francisco, Haines Gallery, Nonsense Poems

2013

Laramie, Art Musuem of University of Wyoming, David Simpson

2015

Antwerp, Geukins & De Vil, David Simpson

2016

Verona, Studio La Città, David Simpson: Works from the 1980s
Knokke, Geukens & De Vil, David Simpson: True to light
Santa Fe, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Then and Now

2017

San Francisco, Modernism, David Simpson: Fifty Years of painting
Santa Fe, Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, David Simpson: Heaven and Hell

 

SELEZIONE ESPOSIZIONI COLLETTIVE: 

1953

San Francisco Museum of Art, Art Association Annual

1955

Denver, Denver Art Museum
San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Art Museum

1960

Osaka, International Gutai Sky Festival

1961

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture

1962

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Fifty Californians
Richmond, Richmond Museum of Fine Arts, Americans 1962
Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum, The Artist’s Environment

1963

New York, Museum of Modern Art
Minneapolis, Walker Art Center

1964

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Post-Painterly Abstraction

1965

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Across America

1966

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture
San Francisco, San Francisco Art Institute, Six Artist from the West

1968

Portland, Portland Art Museum, The West Coast Now
Sacramento, Crocker Art Museum, West Coast ‘68

1969

New York, Marlborough Graphics Gallery

1970

Omaha, Joslyn Art Museum, Looking West 1970
Oakland, The Oakland Museum of California and Kaiser Industries, Contemporary Prints and Drawings

1974

San Jose, San Jose Museum of Art, Graphics selections
Paolo Alto, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Invitational exhibition

1976

Richmond, Richmond Art Center, Twenty Bay Area Painters

1977

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Washington, National Collection of Fine Arts, Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern era

1978

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, American Abstract Art Since 1945

1980

San Francisco, Modernism, Works on Paper by Gallery Artists
Chicago, Chicago International Art Exposition, Made on the Coast

1982

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, On Reflection: A tribute to John Humphrey

1983

Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek Art Center, The Planar Dimensions: Geometric Abstraction by Bay Area Artists

1985

Oakland, The Oakland Museum of California, Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980
San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, 50th Anniversary Exhibit

1986

Los Angeles, Koplin Gallery, Three Abstract Artists
Berkley, Berkley Art Center, Classical Abstraction

1988

Santa Monica, Santa Monica Heritage Museum, Art and Architecture
San Francisco, Modernism, Works on Paper

1994

Tokyo, Galerie Sho, 16 California Artists

1995

Lugano, Museo Cantonale D’Arte Lugano, The Panza di Muima Donation: European and American Art ’83-‘93
San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Facing Eden

1996

Rovereto, MART, The Panza Donation: European and American Art ’83-‘93

1997

Seoul, Seomi Gallery
San Francisco, Haines Gallery, Obsession + Devotion
Colonia, Schroder Gallery, Paintings

1998

Gubbio, Palazzo Ducale, Colleccio de Panza Di Biumo

2000

Berkley, Berkley Art Museum, Minimalism: Then and Now
Varese, Villa Panza, The Panza Collection

2001

Colonia, Renate Schroder Gallerie, Painting Today – Overseas and Here

2007

Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, The Panza Collection: An Experience of Color and Light
Toronto, Lausberg Contemporary, Di capo!

2008

San Francisco, Modernism, West Coast Abstraction II: In Memory of Kim Wauson

2010

Laguna Beach, Laguna Art Museum, Extract: Developing Exhibitions Inspired by the Collection

2011

Richmond, Richmond Art Center, Beyond tradition: Art Legacies at the Richmond Art Center

2014

San Francisco, Haines Gallery, Fundamental Abstraction III
Roma, Montoro 12, The Cosmic Spectrum: Monochromes and Beyond

2017

Taos, The Harwood Museum of Art, University of New Mexico, Continuum Art-as-Art