Today Simonson is as committed to, and inspired by, the male figure as he was then. He found the male figure to be a continuous source of inspiration, and he began producing art-paintings, drawings, prints-with an energy and enthusiasm that he had never felt before. For the first time, Simonson felt that he was painting what he had always been meant to paint. At first he was concerned that the male figure might be too narrow a focus, that it might limit his growth as an artist. But around 1980, Simonson put aside his fears and began focusing on the male nude as his primary subject matter. Although he'd been fascinated by the male figure for most of his life, his own fears and insecurities had kept him from exploring it in his art. At around the same time as the success of Pidgin to da Max, Simonson began experimenting with fine art again - something he had not done for several years. Since then, Simonson has created or co-created 14 books, which have been published in 3 countries and in 5 languages, with a total of over 350,000 copies in print. Then, in 1981, with the help of two close friends, Simonson wrote, illustrated and published a book called Pidgin to da Max, which went on to become one of the best-selling books ever published in Hawaii. Simonson also found time for an amazing diversity of experiences and careers, from sign-painting to typesetting to writing radio and television commercials. He also drew, painted and studied voraciously on his own, absorbing the influence of such diverse masters as Velázquez, Vermeer, Rubens, Sorolla, Sargent, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Modigliani, Matisse and Picasso. In Honolulu, Simonson studied art at the University of Hawaii and the Honolulu Academy of Art. When he was 19, Simonson left his home town of Thedford, Nebraska to move to Honolulu, Hawaii. Born and raised in the dry, dusty cattle country of the western U.S., Simonson was encouraged in his art by his mother, also an artist. His work hangs in collections in over 80 countries on 6 continents. Douglas Simonson is one of the world's best-known interpreters of the male figure.
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