Photographer and filmmaker Laurie Simmons has been at the forefront of New York’s contemporary art scene since the late ’70s. Utilizing surrogate figures (toys, dummies, puppets, and cutouts), Simmons constructs scenarios that simulate daily life, fantasies, and elements of pop culture. Long associated with the feminist art movement for her portrayal of women’s roles, the artist’s project involving a life-size Japanese sex doll is bound to spark some debate on both sides of the women’s rights camp.
Exploring issues of racial and gender identity, Lorna Simpson blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction in her poignant photographic and video installations.
Mining eBay and flea markets for vernacular photos of African Americans from the era of segregation, Simpson recontextualizes the imagery to coax new meaning from lost memories. Photo-booth pictures get paired with the artist’s wistful drawings, while alluring, pin-up-like snapshots are re-created with Simpson simulating the unknown subjects’ playful poses.
“The shape is the object,” critic Michael Fried once wrote. “At any rate, what secures the wholeness of the object is the singleness of the shape.” This line evokes Maya Lin‘s stunning Vietnam Memorial (she won the commission when she was 21!), the work for which she is best known. There, residing firmly in the shadow of Daniel Chester French’s iconic Lincoln, Lin’s haunting granite work alters the landscape and, consequently, highlights visitors’ collective kinesthesia. Its singleness of shape is the anti-obelisk; it makes you want to drop to your knees in contrition rather than stand in solace. Read More »
