Lorna Simpson
Give Me Some Moments
‘the notion of fragmentation, especially of the body, is prevalent in our culture, and it’s reflected in my works. We’re fragmented not only in terms of how society regulates our bodies but in the way we think about ourselves.’—Lorna Simpson
Give Me Some Moments
‘Give Me Some Moments’ follows the artist’s critically acclaimed 2019 exhibition ‘Darkening’ at Hauser & Wirth’s 22nd Street gallery in New York. In 2019, Simpson was awarded the esteemed J. Paul Getty Medal, honoring her extraordinary contribution to practice, understanding, and support of the arts.
The new collages feature a series of female and male protagonists, often the focal point of the compositions, who Simpson splices with architectural features, animals, and natural elements to create scenarios that are at once poetic and arresting.
In these collages, Simpson uses the devices of extreme cropping and close-ups to hone in on sections of the bodies portrayed. As she explains, ‘the notion of fragmentation, especially of the body, is prevalent in our culture, and it’s reflected in my works. We’re fragmented not only in terms of how society regulates our bodies but in the way we think about ourselves.’
In ‘Flames’ (2019), Simpson forefronts women’s heads and inserts scenes of burning buildings in place of advertised coiffed wigs, while in ‘California’ (2019) she intertwines geological source material from a 1931 textbook with domestic scenery, encouraging new narratives to emerge from the unexpected settings.
While under quarantine, Simpson has continued to engage the analog nature of the collage process, directly cutting and pasting from Ebony magazines, resulting in three new surreal portraits that are featured in this exhibition: ‘Solar Glare’ (2020), ‘Walk with Me’ (2020), and ‘Lyra night sky styled in NYC’ (2020).
About the artist
Born in Brooklyn, Lorna Simpson came to prominence in the 1980s with her pioneering approach to conceptual photography. Simpson’s early work – particularly her striking juxtapositions of text and staged images – raised questions about the nature of representation, identity, gender, race and history that continue to drive the artist’s expanding and multi-disciplinary practice today.
Inquire about other available works by Lorna Simpson
Artist Recommendations
Reading: Robin Coste-Lewis & Elizabeth Alexander
‘Voyage of the Sable Venus’ by Robin Coste Lewis ‘The Light At The End of The World’ by Elizabeth Alexander ‘The Black Interior: Essays’ by Elizabeth Alexander
Listening to Jason Moran
‘His recent exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art that ran from September 20, 2019 to Jan 5th, 2020. A fellow artist whom I have collaborated with in the past - Jason Moran's artistic acumen is mesmerizing. Listening to his music right now is both soothing and evocative.’– Lorna Simpson
‘The boundary-bursting artist Jason Moran (b. 1975) grounds his practice in the composition of jazz, bridging the visual and performing arts through spellbinding stagecraft. Heralded as one of the country’s leading jazz innovators, Moran transmutes his personal experience of the world into dynamic musical compositions that challenge the formal conventions of the medium. His experimental approach to art-making embraces the intersection of objects and sound, pushing beyond the traditional in ways that are inherently theatrical.’– Whitney Museum of American Art, whitney.com
Lorna SimpsonGive Me Some Moments
Since the beginning of her practice Simpson has used her work to suggest or point to a narrative while simultaneously imbuing a distinct sense of ambiguity. The collage works use fragmented figures to continue these notions as well as exemplify a surreal side of Simpson’s practice through multifaceted layers of both abstraction and figuration.
‘Give Me Some Moments’ follows the artist’s critically acclaimed 2019 exhibition ‘Darkening’ at Hauser & Wirth’s 22nd Street gallery in New York. In 2019, Simpson was awarded the esteemed J. Paul Getty Medal, honoring her extraordinary contribution to practice, understanding, and support of the arts.
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Under the umbrella of Hauser & Wirth’s new global philanthropic and charitable initiative #artforbetter, we are donating 10% of gross profits from sales of all works in our online exhibitions to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization.
Images from top: Lorna Simpson, Solar Glare, 2020, detail; Lorna Simpson, California, 2019, detail; Lorna Simpson, *Adornment, 2020, detail; Lorna Simpson, Flames, 2019, detail; Lorna Simpson, *Adornment, 2019, detail; Lorna Simpson, Solar, 2019, detail. All photos: James Wang; All images: © Lorna Simpson