Gary Simmons
(b. 1964)In a practice that ranges from painting to sculpture to installation, Gary Simmons explores the politics of race, community, and culture, investigating the construction and reconstruction of the past through personal and collective memory.
Biography
As an MFA student at CalArts, he studied with artists such as Charles Gaines, Michael Asher, and Catherine Lord. Following his graduation, Simmons established a studio in a former school building in New York City in 1990. At the time, he worked mainly in sculpture, though he has created a range of work including performance, site-specific installations, and murals
Inspired by the blackboards and chalk left behind in the former classrooms, he began a series of drawings in chalk on slate-covered paper. These works recall cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s that depict minstrel stereotypes. Through smearing the chalk with his hands, Simmons distorts the image—a type of erasure that appears throughout his work—to challenge the imagery while playing with the chalkboard medium as a common pedagogical tool. The artist notes, “I started to think about how images on blackboards can never fully be erased. It was about trying to erase a stereotype and the traces of the racial pain that you drag along with you.”1 Additional works by Simmons have explored silent films and African American actors who have faded from history and voices in music that shape contemporary culture.
Simmons received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and his MFA from CalArts. He is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Interarts Grant (1990); Penny McCall Foundation Grant (1991); and Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize from the Studio Museum (2013). The Studio Museum has featured his work in numerous exhibitions, including Gary Simmons (2002); The Bearden Project (2012); and Excerpt (2017).
1) “Gary Simmons,” Hauser & Wirth, accessed November 4, 2022, hauserwirth.com/artists/33677-gary-simmons/.
Exhibitions and Events
Gary Simmons
(b. 1964)In a practice that ranges from painting to sculpture to installation, Gary Simmons explores the politics of race, community, and culture, investigating the construction and reconstruction of the past through personal and collective memory.
Right Drop, 2012
Biography
As an MFA student at CalArts, he studied with artists such as Charles Gaines, Michael Asher, and Catherine Lord. Following his graduation, Simmons established a studio in a former school building in New York City in 1990. At the time, he worked mainly in sculpture, though he has created a range of work including performance, site-specific installations, and murals
Inspired by the blackboards and chalk left behind in the former classrooms, he began a series of drawings in chalk on slate-covered paper. These works recall cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s that depict minstrel stereotypes. Through smearing the chalk with his hands, Simmons distorts the image—a type of erasure that appears throughout his work—to challenge the imagery while playing with the chalkboard medium as a common pedagogical tool. The artist notes, “I started to think about how images on blackboards can never fully be erased. It was about trying to erase a stereotype and the traces of the racial pain that you drag along with you.”1 Additional works by Simmons have explored silent films and African American actors who have faded from history and voices in music that shape contemporary culture.
Simmons received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and his MFA from CalArts. He is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Interarts Grant (1990); Penny McCall Foundation Grant (1991); and Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize from the Studio Museum (2013). The Studio Museum has featured his work in numerous exhibitions, including Gary Simmons (2002); The Bearden Project (2012); and Excerpt (2017).
1) “Gary Simmons,” Hauser & Wirth, accessed November 4, 2022, hauserwirth.com/artists/33677-gary-simmons/.
Exhibitions and Events