There is no future without the past
Acrylic on wood panel, 40 x 40 cm, 2022
$1000 each for these series
 
Artwork Statement
This work captures a moment of transition—the closing of a shop, a familiar place emptied of its former life, now standing quietly between its history and whatever will come next. Rather than viewing the closure as an end, Simon Beuve frames it as part of an ongoing cycle of change.
Through worn surfaces, residual textures, and layered materiality, the work speaks to the presence of absence. Each trace—scuff marks, fading paint, structural decay—holds the memory of past use and human activity. These details become quiet witnesses to impermanence, transformation, and continuity.
 
There is no future without the past exists in this threshold space, where endings are also beginnings. It invites viewers to consider how places absorb and reflect collective experience, and how the remnants of the past inevitably shape our future landscapes—both literal and emotional.
 
Artist Bio
Simon Beuve is a French-Australian artist whose practice is rooted in the vibrant energy of the urban landscape. Born in Normandy, Beuve began his artistic journey in 2000 through the graffiti movement, eventually relocating to Paris to engage with the city’s leading street art culture. Now based in Melbourne, his work spans murals, paintings, collages, and assemblages—merging gestural abstraction with a raw visual language drawn from everyday city life.
Beuve’s process is driven by a sensitivity to overlooked materials and moments: peeling paint, weathered textures, scrawled markings, and accidental traces. These ephemeral remnants are not treated as flaws, but as emotionally resonant elements that reflect time’s passage and the layered narratives embedded in urban environments. His compositions are at once chaotic and poetic, offering visual reflections on transformation, decay, and renewal.
Since his first solo exhibition in Melbourne in 2015, Beuve has exhibited widely in solo and group shows, street art festivals, and international publications. Beyond his studio practice, he facilitates workshops and community collaborations, fostering dialogue, self-expression, and connection through art.