21 March 2014 - 22 June 2014
 This first European retrospective presents more than 30 years of Lorna Simpson's work across the mediums of photography, film, video, and drawing. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Simpson became well-known in the mid-1980s for her conceptually rigorous and language driven large-scale works combining photographs and text.Â
Although the texts add significance to the images, the connection between both is open and the narrative allusive and coded, rather than direct or documentary, her critical strategy nevertheless leaves room for the spectator's imagination. In these photographs, Simpson employs the figure of the African-American woman to challenge conventional views of gender, identity, culture, history, and memory, and examines the ways in which these shape interactions, relationships and experiences.Â
In the mid-1990s, she began creating large multi-panel photographs printed on felt, mostly accompanied by text panels indicating different locations and intimate encounters. In the last fifteen years, she has turned to film and video works in which individuals engage in enigmatic conversations that seem to address the mysteries of both identity and desire. The exhibition also gathers a large group of watercolors Simpson has created since 2005. In her most recent works she involves an archive of photographs from the 1950s, which she has been adding to by creating her own replicas of these images, posing herself to mimic the originals.
The film Momentum (see images above) is an unusual piece and the first response I felt I gave it as a viewer is looking at the way they are dressed and the matching golden costume. Due to the huge scale of the screens, the gold shines through the whole space, acting as a great positive light and it provided the space with a great sense of life. It did not feel like the traditional white cube gallery space.
After a while, I began to notice how the two screens were playing the same film however one side was a few seconds slower than the other. I felt as the viewer, I was unable to watch the actual film itself in full as I kept uncontrollably shifting my sight between the two films, watching each section repeat itself on the alternative screen.
One fascinating element to me was that due to the fact that the piece was a projection from behind the screen, when the viewers move past the back of the piece their viewer interrupts the flow from the projector therefore their shadow becomes part of the piece. As their shadow is imprinted onto the screen which is holding the projection, it could be argued that the screen itself is acting as the plinth in a traditional gallery space, and that the viewer has therefore become piece of the artwork themselves. I thoroughly enjoy artwork which incorporates the presence of the viewer as I do believe that this is the purpose of creating artwork. The overall exhibition, particularly this piece Momentum, has been a great inspiration to my artist practice, particularly in the aspect of thinking about allowing the viewer's presence to be acknowledged and also the use of projection in a space.
vaporwave
2087
kianamaiart
baratheonpilled
gummygunk
germansingergirl
kaledo-art