Gary Simmons

Gary Simmons

Born April 14, 1964, New York; lives and works in New York. Attended School of Visual Arts, New York, B.F.A., 1988; California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California, M.F.A., 1990

Selected One-person Exhibitions:

2010
"Midnight Matinee," Metro Pictures, New York (and 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2008)
2008
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles (and 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005)
CAIS Gallery, Seoul/Hong Kong (cat.) (and 2002)
2007
Anthony Meier, San Francisco
"House of Pain," Simon Lee Gallery, London
2006
"1964," The Bohen Foundation, New York
2003
Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
2002
"Gary Simmons," Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (cat.)
2001
"Ghost House," (site-specific installation) SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico (cat.)
"Desert Blizzard," Video Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
2000
"Wake," (web exhibition) Dia Center, www.diacenter.org, New York
"Bench Markers," Musée D\'Art Americain, Giverny, France (broch.)
1999
"Currents 80," The Saint Louis Art Museum
1997
"Gary Simmons: Gazebo," Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Galeri Charlotte Lund, Stockholm
Montgomery Glasoe Fine Art, Minneapolis
1995
The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (two-person exhibition with Glenn Ligon)
"Gary Simmons: Erasure Drawings," Lannan Foundation, Los Angeles (broch.)
1994
"Directions: Gary Simmons," Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. (broch.)
1993
Galerie Philippe Rizzo, Paris (and 1996 [catalogue])
1992
Jason Rubell Gallery, Miami
"The Garden of Hate," Whitney Museum at Philip Morris, New York (brochure)
Roy Boyd Gallery, Santa Monica (and 1989, 1991)
1990
White Columns, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2009
"NeoHooDoo: Art of a Forgotten Faith," Miami Art Museum, Miami
"30 Seconds off an Inch," The Studio Museum, New York (2009-2010) (cat.)
"Collecting History: Highlighting Recent Acquisitions," The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
"Nothingness and Being," The Jumex Collection, Mexico City
"Sites," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2008
"An Unruly History of the Readymade," The Jumex Collection, Mexico City (2008-2009) (cat.)
"The Station," Midblock East, Miami
"30 Americans," The Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2008-2009) (cat.)
Gwangju Biennale, Korea
"NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith," The Menil Collection, Houston
2007
"For the Love of the Game, Race and Sport in America," Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, Hartford
"Collected Identities: Gifts from the Blake Byrne Collection," Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
"Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making," The Museum of Modern Art, New York (cat.)
2006
"Fifth Interpretation of the Collection," La Colección Jumex, Pachuca, Mexico (cat.)
"The Constant Possibility of Erasure," Dorsky Gallery, New York.
"Studio in the Park," organized by BravinLee, Riverside Park, New York
2005
"Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970," Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (cat.)
"Past, Presence, Childhood and Memory," Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria
"Looking at Words: The Formal Presence of Text in Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper," Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York
2004
"Social Studies," Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois (cat.)
"White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art," Center for Art and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore (cat.)
2003
"Whiteness, A Wayward Construction," Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California
"Raid the Icebox," Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
"Supernova: Art of the 1990s from the Logan Collection," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (cat.)
2002
"New York Renaissance – Masterworks From the Whitney Museum of American Art," Palazzo Reale, Milan (cat.)
2001
"I'm Thinking of a Place," Armand Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
"One Planet Under a Groove – Hip Hop and Contemporary Art," Bronx Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
"Audible Imagery: Sound and Photography," Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago
2000
"Art on the Line Comes Inside," Main Line Art Center, Haverford, Pennsylvania
"Point of Reference," Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts
1999
"Sightgags," Museum of Modern Art, New York
"At Century's End," Museum of Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, Florida
"Billboard," Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams
"Heaven," Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf
"American Century," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
"Videodrome," New Museum of Contempoary Art, New York
"Rapture," Bakalar Gallery and Huntington Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art
1998
"The Campaign Against Living Miserably," Royal College of Arts, London
"Cut on the Bias," Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia
1997
"New York: Drawings Today," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
"No Place (Like Home)," Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (broch.)
"Gothic," Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (cat.)
"Wall Drawings," Kunsthaus, Zurich (cat.)
"Trade Routes: History and Geography," 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, South Africa
"Heart, Mind, Body, Soul: American Art in the 1990's," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
"inSite97," Installation Gallery, San Diego, California (cat.)
1996
"Imagined Communities," Oldham Art Gallery, London (traveling venues through 1997, cat.)
"Defining the 90's: Consensus Making in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami," Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami
"Under Capricorn: Art in the Age of Globalization," Stedelijk Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (cat.)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
"Getekend, Amerika!" MK Espositieruimte, Rotterdam (cat.)
"A/drift," Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York
"Fragments: Proposta per a una colleccio de fotografia contemporania," Museo d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona (cat.)
"Inklusion, Exklusion: Kunst im Zeitalter von Postkolonialismus und globaler Migration," Reininghaus Graz, Austria (cat.)
1995
"Configura 2 - Dialog Der Kulturen - Erfurt 1995," Erfurt, Germany (cat.)
1994
"Urban Paradise: Gardens in the City," Paine Webber Art Gallery, New York
"Summer Academy I," PaceWildenstein Gallery, New York
"Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Armond Hammer Gallery, University of California at Los Angeles (cat.)
1993
"Biennial," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (cat.)
Thread Waxing Space, New York
"The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism," Fine Arts Gallery, University of California, Irvine (cat.)
1992
"The Politics of Difference: Artists Explore Issues of Identity," University Art Gallery, University of California, Riverside
"The Big Nothing or Le Presque Rien," New Museum of Contemporary Art and French Cultural Services, New York
"Songs of Innocence/Songs of Experience," Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center, New York
"Dissent, Difference, and the Body Politic," Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Otis Parsons School of Design (cat.)
"Wall Drawings," The Drawing Center, New York
1991
"Interrogating Identity: The Question of Black Art," Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; Madison Art Center, Wisconsin; Center for Fine Arts, Miami; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio; Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina (cat.)
"The Subversive Stitch," Simon Watson Gallery, New York
"Schwarze Kunst: Konzepte zu Politik und Identitat," Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst, Berlin
1990
"All Quiet on the Western Front?" Espace de Dieu, Paris
"Official Language," San Francisco Art Institute Galleries, San Francisco
"Total Metal," Simon Watson Gallery, New York
1989
American Fine Arts, Co., New York

Selected Bibliography:

2009
Christian Rattemeyer, The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection: Catalogue Raisonné, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, pp. 254
30 Seconds off an Inch, The Studio Museum, Harlem, pp. 49
Charles Wylie, "Words and Images," Dallas Cowboys Star Gameday, November 1, pp. 147-148
2008
An Unruly History of the Readymade, Fundación Jumex, Mexico City
30 Americans, The Rubell Family Collection and D.A.P., New York, pp. 138-143
"It Was All A Blur," V Magazine, Winter, #56, pp. 55
Joshua Decter, "Gary Simmons: Metro Pictures," Artforum, December, pp. 297-298
Christopher Knight, "Behind 'Smoke,' Fiery Messages," The Los Angeles Times, November 7, pp. E18
Crawling Along the Edge of a Straight Razor, CAIS Gallery, Seoul, pp. 53
2007
Cheri Pitcher, "Gary Simmons," Creative Quarterly, Spring, pp. 10-15
Museum of Modern Art: Highlights Since 1980, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, pp. 156
Kenneth Baker, "An Aesthetic Appreciation of quarries," The San Francisco Chronicle, October 6
Cheryl R. Riley, "Gary Simmons: The Art of Erasure," Ebony, April, pp. 108-112
Roberta Smith, "Visions That Flaunt Cartoon Pedigrees," The New York Times, March 2, 2007, Section E, pp. 27, 34
Roxana Marcoci, Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, pp. 108-113
2006
Fifth Interpretation of the Collection, La Colección Jumex, Pachuca, Mexico, pp. 233, 250, 256
Sarah Douglas, "Staying Power," Art + Auction, November, pp. 160-167
Eleanor Heartney, "Gary Simmons at the Bohen Foundation," Art in America, October 2006, pp.188
Micaela Martegani, "Gary Simmons," Tema Celeste, September / October, pp. 78
Holland Cotter, "Experience Matters: Creators in Midcareer and Beyond," The New York Times , April 21, E31, E39
"Gary Simmons: '1964'," Time Out New York, April 13-19, pp. 80
2005
Johanna Drucker, Sweet Dreams: Contemporary Art and Complicity, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 112-124
Richard Wright, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch BukAmerica, Los Angeles, cover illustration
Elisabeth Sussman, "Then and Now: Whitney Biennial 1993," Art Journal, Spring, pp. 74-79
Jordan Kantor, Drawing from the Modern: After the Endgames, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, pp. 143
Error! Contact not defined., "We\'re Going Back: Error! Contact not defined. talks with Rob Swift and Greg Tate," Yard, ed. Ellen Ross, London Terrace Station, New York pp. 34-41
2004
Rubell Family Collection – Not Afraid, Mark Coetzee, Phaidon Press Limited, New York, p. 185
2003
Merrily Kerr, "Gary Simmons– If These Walls Could Talk," Flash Art, Milan, January/February, pp. 98-100
Leah Ollman, "Around the Galleries: Art that\'s fresh from the icebox," Los Angeles Times, 4 April, p. E 27 (illus.)
David Ebony, "Gary Simmons at the Studio Museum in Harlem," Art in America, June, p. 116
2002
Thelma Goldin, "Diary," Slate, February 20
Photography Transformed, essay by Klaus Kertess, Abrams, New York, pp. 192, 253
Gary Simmons, essays by Maurice Berger & Thelma Golden, interview by Franklin Sirmans, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Tracey Hummer, "The Persistence of Memory," Smock, New York, Winter, pp. 52-53
Alan G. Artner, "Memory of Now," Chicago Tribune,, 21 February, p. 3
New York Renaissance – Masterworks From the Whitney Museum of American Art, Palazzo Reale, Milan, p. 174
Judith Russi Kirshner, "Gary Simmons – Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago," Artforum, Summer, p. 170
Sarah Douglas, "Gary Simmons: Site Santa Fe," The Art Newspaper, June, p. 8
Lynn Cline, "The Fleeting Work of Gary Simmons," Pasatiempo, New Mexico, 21-7 June, pp. 34-36
Margaret Sundell, "Return Engagement," Time Out New York, 24-31 October, pp. 66-67
Mark Stevens, "Gray Matters," New York Magazine, 28 October, p. 83
Martha Schwendener, "New York Critics' Picks– Gary Simmons," Artforum.com, November
Lateral Thinking: Art of the 1990s, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California, pp. 112-113, 135
Barbara Pollack, "Gary Simmons," Art News, December, p. 116
Gary Simmons, CAIS Gallery, Seoul, Korea (cat.)
New Material as New Media, Marion Boulton Stroud, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, pp. 98-105, 260-263
2001
Jody Zellen, "Reviews: Los Angeles," Art Papers, March/April, pp. 52-53
Morgan Lee, "Art House," Albuquerque Journal, 14 May, pp. 1,3
Franklin Sirmans, "The No – Tech Way Toward Art – Making," New York Times, 2 September, p. AR 27
Adrian Dannatt, "Black Conceptualist Month," The Art Newspaper, September, p. 78
Christopher Knight, "Simmons: Emotions Emerging in Art," Los Angeles Times, September 28, pp. F1, F18
Ghost House, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico
American Visionaries, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, p. 281
2000
Giverny Garden Projects, Musée D'Art Americain, Giverny, France
Modern Contemporary: Art at MoMA Since 1980, edited by Kirk Varnedoe, Paola Antonelli, Joshua Siegel, Museum of Modern Art, New York, p. 470
Glenn Ligon and Gary Simmons, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia
1999
George Baker, "Gary Simmons: Metro Pictures", Artforum, March, p. 113
Moustafa Bayoumi, "Intellectual Spectacle", Borderlines, Toronto, no. 48, pp. 12-15
The American Century: 1950-2000, Lisa Phillips, Whitney Museum of American Art, p. 339
Currents 80, edited by Rochelle Steiner, Saint Louis Art Museum
Byron Kerman,"Space Explorer," The Riverfront Times, 8-14 December, p. 27
1998
Gary Simmons, essay by Nancy Princenthal, Gallery of the Department of Art & Art History, Dana Arts Center, Colgate University
Kurt Hollander, "Import/Export: Crossover Dreams," Art in America, May, pp. 46-51
Homi K. Bhabha, "The White Stuff," Artforum, May, pp. 21-24
The Campaign Against Living Miserably, essays by Teresa Gleadowe & Dale McFarland, Royal College of Arts, London
Postcards from Black America, edited by Rob Perée, Hedendaagse Afrikans-Amerikaanse Kunst, The Netherlands
David Pagel, "Too Close for Comfort," Los Angeles Times, 5 June, p. F 25
Michael Darling, "Gary Simmons at Margo Leavin," LA Weekly, 2 July, p. 58
Eric Fredericksen, "Drawing Lessons," The Stranger, Seattle, 23 July, p. 25
Ron Updike, "Drawing on a Diverse Palette," Seattle Times, 16 July (Visual Arts Section)
Claudine Isé, "Gary Simmons," Art Issues, September/October, p. 44
1997
David Rimanelli, "A/Drift," Artforum, February 1997, p. 83
Gianmarco Del Re, "Imagined Communities," Flash Art, Milan, January/February, p. 63
Franklin Sirmans, "Remixing the Art World: Art in the Global Marketpace," Flash Art, Milan, May/June, pp. 69-72
Nancy Princenthal, "Gary Simmons: Disappearing Acts," Art & Text, May – July, pp. 52-7
"Curve (Ghoster) & Oh My," New Observations, no. 115, pp. 14-15
Francesco Bonami, "No Place Like Home," Flash Art, Milan, Summer, p. 131
Paul Sherman, "ICA's Gothic Film Series is a Frightfuly Good Time," Boston Herald, 5 May
Roberta Smith, "The Horror: Updating the Heart of Darkness," New York Times, Arts and Leisure, 1 June
Scene of the Crime, Anthony Vidler and Peter Wallen, Armand Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
Coming Home Again, Jeanne Siegel, Visual Arts Gallery, New York
Paul Ardenne, "Art: L'Âge Contemporain," Regard, Paris, p. 183
Wall Drawings, Bernhard Fibicher Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Insite97: Private Time In Public Space, essays by Susan Buck-Morss, Néster García Canclini, George E. Lewis, José Manuel Valenzuela Arce, Installation Gallery, San Diego, California, pp. 150-151, cover illustration
1996
Piers Masterson, "Imagined Communities," Art Monthly, London, March, pp. 33-35
Michael Bracewell, "Beyond These Four Walls," The Independent, London, 13 February, section 2
Allister Harry, "Black Community...Who/ Us?," Voice, London, 27 February
Sarah Kent, "Divided We Stand," Time Out London, 13 September, p. 49
"Take Out: Art," Time Out New York, 13-20 March, p. 3
Pepe Karmel, "Art in Review: Gary Simmons," New York Times, 22 March, p. C27
"MK Expositieruimte: Getekend, Amerika!," Rotterdam On Line, tekenen/drawing '96, p. 53
Barbara A. MacAdam, "Varsari Diary: Urban Dreamers," Art News, April, pp. 39-40
Paul D. Miller, "Tonic Boom," Village Voice, April 2, p. 72
David Colman, "Pretty on the Outside," George, June, pp. 117-118
Leah Eskin, "Gone With the Wind," Chicago Reader, 5 July, p. 1-37
Natacha Carron, "Gary Simmons - Philippe Rizzo," Flash Art, Milan, October, p. 118
Gregory Volk, "Gary Simmons at Metro Pictures," Art in America, October, p. 114
Martha Schwendener, "Catch My Drift," Time Out New York, 12-19 December, p. 40
Roberta Smith, "Finding Art in the Artifacts of the Masses," New York Times, Arts & Leisure, 1 December, pp. 43-44,46
Okwui Enwezor, "Inclusion/Exclusion: Art in the Age of Global Migration and Postcolonialism," Frieze, London, March/April, pp. 89-90
Martin Prinzhorn, "Inclusion/Exclusion," Texte zur Kunst, Berlin, March, pp. 183-184
Justin Hoffmann,"Inclusion/Exclusion," Kunstforum, Berlin, February - May, pp. 350-353
Alexander Puhringer, "Inclusion/Exclusion," Noema, no. 43, December/January, p. 104
Doris Krumpl, "Rand-Zonen und die Kunst der Landsvermessung," Der Standard, 29 September
Art City: Making it in Manhattan, Paul Gardner & Chris Maybach, (VHS, 58 mins)
1995
Greg Tate, "Start Black-Owned Conceptual Bomber," Vibe, February
Linda Nochlin, "Learning from 'Black Male'," Art in America, March, pp. 86-91
George Howell, "Gary Simmons: Erasures," Art Papers, March/April, pp. 39-40
"If They Built a Memorial to the War In the Streets," New York Times Magazine, 9 April, p. 112
Edith Newhall, "Installation: Now Growing in SoHo," New York Magazine, 1 May
Tom Eccles, "Gary Simmons at The Contemporary and Metro Pictures," Art in America, July, pp. 83-84
David Pagel, "The Writing's on the Wall," Los Angeles Times, 24 September, pp. 63, 66
Christopher Knight, "Social Studies on the Blackboard," Los Angeles Times, 5 October, pp. F1, F8, F10
David Pagel, "Gary Simmons," Frieze, London, September/October, pp. 79-80
Gary Simmons: Erasure Drawings, essay by Lisa Lyons, Lannan Foundation, Los Angeles
Rosanna Albertini, "Gary Simmons - Lannan Foundation," Art Press, Paris, December, p. 76
Ralph Rugoff, "Best & Worst 1995," Artforum, December, p. 67
Andrew Perchuk, "Gary Simmons - Lannan Foundation," Artforum, December, pp. 94-95
Christopher Knight, "Art: Canvassing the Year of Brilliance," Los Angeles Times, Calendar Section, 31 December, p. 27
David A. Greene, "Imperfect World: Gary Simmons Fights the Power with Subtle Beauty," Los Angeles Reader, 7 October
1994
Jan Avgikos, "Gary Simmons at Metro Pictures," Artforum, January, p. 87
Peter Plagens and Ellis Cose, "Black Like Whom?" Newsweek, 14 November, pp. 64-67
Bonnie Clearwater, "Arrested Childhood," Art Press, Paris, December, pp. 33-40
Directions: Gary Simmons, interview by Amada Cruz, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
1993
Gene Ray, "Gary Simmons," Flash Art, Milan, January/February, p. 94
Holland Cotter, "Gary Simmons: Metro Pictures," New York Times, 8 October, p. C30
John Brumfield, "Marginalia: Life in a Day of Black L.A. or, The Theater of Refusal," Art Issues, September/October, pp. 24-27
Jean Charles Agboton-Jumeau, "Gary Simmons and M. Franklin Sirmans at Galerie Rizzo," Forum International, October/November, p. 133
Amei Wallach, "Art with an Attitude," New York Newsday, 5 March, pp. 52-53
Roberta Smith, "A Whitney Biennial with a Social Conscience," New York Times, 5 March, pp. C1,C27
1992
Gary Simmons: The Garden of Hate, interview by Thelma Golden, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The Edge of Childhood, essays by Barbara Coller, Donald Kuspit, Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York
1991
Roberta Smith, "Interrogating Identity," New York Times, 17 March
Lawrence Gipe, "Gary Simmons," Flash Art, Milan, October, p. 142
Robert Mahony, "New York in Review," Arts Magazine, March, p. 94
Lois Nesbitt, "Interogating Identity," Artforum, Summer, p. 115
1990
Michael Anderson, "Gary Simmons," Art Issues, March/April, p. 23
Colin Gardner, "Gary Simmons," Artforum, March, p. 169
Doug Ischar, "Articulating Subjectivity," Artweek, 18 January, p. 11
1989
Peter Frank, "Pick of the Week," LA Weekly, 29 December

Awards and Grants:

2007
USA Gund Fellowship
1991
Penny McCall Foundation Grant
1990
National Endowment for the Arts Interarts Grant

Museum Collections:

Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Baltimore Museum of Art
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Judith Rothschild Foundation, New York
Jumex Collection, Mexico City
The Miami Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Peter Norton Family Foundation, California
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
The Rubell Collection, Miami
The Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Studio Museum Harlem, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York