Gary Simmons (born April 14, 1964) is an American artist from New York City. Using icons and stereotypes of American popular culture, he creates works that address personal and collective experiences of
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
and class. He is best known for his "erasure drawings," in which he draws in white
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
on slate-painted panels or walls, then smudges them with his hands – a technique that renders their imagery ghostly.
Work and exhibitions
Early work
Simmons received his BFA from the
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.
History
This school was started by ...
in 1988. He received his MFA from
CalArts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...
in 1990 and received both the National Endowment for the Arts Interarts Grant and the Penny McCall Foundation Grant shortly after. Shortly after his graduate studies, Simmons found a studio back home at a former vocational school in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York. His space was empty but for several old-fashioned, wooden, rolling classroom chalkboards, which he began using as canvases in a series of early works about mis-education and conceptions of racial and class identity. Interested in the medium's ambiguous and impermanent nature, he worked with
chalk on boards or on walls painted with chalkboard paint almost exclusively in the 1990s. In these works, he often borrowed imagery from antique
cartoons
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
that depicted black
caricatures
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
. In a wall drawing called ''Wall of Eyes'', commissioned for the 1993
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...
, the black surface of board is peppered with bodiless cartoon eyes of different sizes.
Erasures series
Simmons's most well-known body of work is his Erasures series. He started this in the 1990s and continues to do wall paintings in a very similar style. Chalkboards make an ideal medium because it alludes to teaching and learning. He's repurposed the place where history is taught and uses erasure to redraw the lines of power. He recreates cartoons that depict black caricatures, some clear and some erased into a dreamy blur. These caricatures refer to when the black stereotype in media was a slap-happy, carefree, musical entertainer. The erasing attempts make the images ethereal and almost ghost like. The erasing is a form of mark making in itself. There's a sweeping movement to it that contrasts with the tight lines of the unmarked cartoon. He's bringing up America's dark past to deface it, but he still wants it to be recognized. He has many exhibitions that feature this style. One of his large-scale wall drawings was most recently shown at
Metro Pictures Gallery
Metro Pictures was a New York City art gallery founded in 1980 by Janelle Reiring (previously of Leo Castelli Gallery), and Helene Winer (previously of Artists Space). It was located in SoHo until 1995 when it moved to Chelsea. The gallery close ...
in Midnight Matinee, an exhibition of paintings and drawings which, like the installation ''Split Personality'', depict semi-erased black-on-black drawings of settings from 1970s horror films.
Sculpture and installation
Considering himself primarily a sculptor, Simmons early three-dimensional work incorporated powerfully suggestive symbols of oppression including
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
signs, hoods and nooses. One work, entitled ''Duck, Duck Noose'' (1992) has chairs in a circle with KKK hoods on each one. In the center of the chairs, a noose hangs from the ceiling. In ''Klan Gate'' (1992), two brick pillars surround a large cast iron gate. Atop each pillar stands a stone carved Klan member. In a later work, ''Big Still'' (2001), Simmons addresses the state of the poor whites in Appalachia and the South. He recreated a prohibition era moonshine rig that was used by poor rural Appalachian whites. He's commenting on the concept of "
white trash
White trash is a derogatory racial and class-related slur used in American English to refer to poor white people, especially in the rural southern United States. The label signifies a social class inside the white population and especially a ...
," and that their disenfranchised life was similar to the urban black communities. However the sculpture is large and intimidating, representing the virulent racism of the time.
Collections
Simmons' paintings, drawings and sculptures have exhibited throughout the US and internationally at the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary ...
;
SITE Santa Fe
SITE Santa Fe (often referred to simply as SITE) is a nonprofit contemporary arts organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since its founding in 1995, SITE Santa Fe has presented 11 biennials, more than 90 contemporary art exhibitions, and w ...
;
The Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...
;
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
; Museum Villa Stuck,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, and in private collections including the
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...
, Washington, DC;
Portland Art Museum
The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum beca ...
, OR;
Saint Louis Art Museum
The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, Mi ...
, MO; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art;
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...
,
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
;
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...
;
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, New York;
Pérez Art Museum Miami
The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Museum Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Center for t ...
, Miami.
Art market
Simmons has been represented globally by
Hauser & Wirth
Hauser & Wirth is a Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery.
History
Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by co-president Marc Payot. In 2020, Ewan Venters was ap ...
since 2021.
[Alex Greenberger (March 25, 2021)]
Gary Simmons, Artist Focused on Erasure and Racist Stereotypes, Heads to Hauser & Wirth
''ARTnews
''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countri ...
''. He was previously represented by
Metro Pictures Gallery
Metro Pictures was a New York City art gallery founded in 1980 by Janelle Reiring (previously of Leo Castelli Gallery), and Helene Winer (previously of Artists Space). It was located in SoHo until 1995 when it moved to Chelsea. The gallery close ...
, New York; Simon Lee Gallery, London;
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles;
''Los Angeles Times'', November 2008.
/ref> Regen Projects, Los Angeles; and Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco.[
]
References
External links
www.GarySimmonsStudio.com
MoMA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Gary
Living people
African-American contemporary artists
American contemporary artists
20th-century American painters
American male painters
American contemporary painters
1964 births
Painters from New York City
20th-century African-American painters
21st-century African-American people
20th-century American male artists