Gary Simmons : public enemy / edited by Rene Morales and Jadine Collingwood ; [contributors, Jadine Collingwood, Thelma Golden, Arthur Jafa, Rene Morales [and four others]].
Published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA (June 13-October1 2023) and the Perez Art Museum Miami, USA (December 5 2023-April 24 2024), and organized by the same museums. Includes bibliographical references.
Contents:
Directors' foreword -- Acknowledgments -- The theater of redemption: History and memory in the work of Gary Simmons / Rene Morales -- Sonic bassline: A conversation with Gary Simmons / Thelma Golden -- 1964 / Jadine Collingwood -- The ghosts that haunt our ruins / Seph Rodney -- Slippery ground, sousrealism, and the specter of justice: Gary Simmons's disruptive groundwork / Nicholas Mirzoeff -- Recapturing memories: A conversation with Gary Simmons / Arthur Jaffa -- Plates -- Reflection of a future past: A visual chronology / Jack Schneider -- Ever forward / Franklin Sirmans -- Exhibition checklist -- Biography and selected exhibition history -- Selected biography -- Contributors
Summary:
Covering 30 years of sculptures, paintings, works on paper, large-scale wall drawings, installations and site-specific works, this book presents the art of Gary Simmons, one of the most respected artists of his generation. Since the late 1980s, Simmons has played a key role in situating questions of race, class and gender identity within art discourse. He is notable for combining pop-cultural imagery with conceptual artistic strategies to expose and analyze histories of racism inscribed in US visual culture. Over the course of his career, Simmons has revealed traces of these histories in the fields of sports, cinema, literature, music, and architecture and urbanism while drawing on popular genres such as hip-hop, horror and science fiction. His approach is cool and unflinching in its interrogation of historical and cultural narratives, yet the results consistently deliver a strong emotional charge. This publication offers readers the opportunity to gain a holistic understanding of the complex, profoundly moving work of this influential artist. Exhibition: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA (10.06. - 01.10.2023) / Perez Art Museum Miami, USA (23.11.2023 - 14.04.2024).
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.