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Indepth Arts News:
"Lorna Simpson : Gathered"
2011-01-28 until 2011-08-28
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Brooklyn, NY,
USA
Lorna Simpson: Gathered presents photographic and other works that explore the artist's interest in the interplay between fact and fiction, identity, and history. Through works that incorporate hundreds of original and found vintage photographs of African Americans that she collected from eBay and flea markets, Simpson undermines the assumption that archival materials are objective documents of history. The exhibition will be open to the public January 28 through August 21, 2011.
IMAGE
Lorna Simpson (American, b. 1960).
1957–2009 Interiors (detail), 2009.
Gelatin silver prints,
5˝ x 5˝ in. (14 x 14 cm) each,
overall dimensions variable.
© 2009 Lorna Simpson.
Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York
In one series, titled May June July 57/09, comprising 123 vintage and contemporary black-and-white photographs, Simpson juxtaposes images of young African American women (and an occasional male figure) who posed for pinups in Los Angeles in 1957 with self-portraits in which the artist acts as a doppelganger for each model. She replicates with precise detail the poses and settings of the original photographs, arranging the work in grid patterns. Linking the historical photographs with her staged responses creates a fictionalized narrative in which the two characters appear to be linked across history in a shared identity or destiny.
The exhibition also includes examples of Simpson’s series of installations of black-and-white photo-booth portraits of African Americans from the Jim Crow era and a series of new works combining collage and drawing.
Lorna Simpson: Gathered is organized by Catherine Morris, Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum.
This exhibition is made possible by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation.
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