Laurie Simmons unpacks domestic ideals and the American dream in US retrospective
In the 1970s, Laurie Simmons made ends meet as an artist by working as a photographer for a dollhouse miniature company. There she began to photograph the dolls and toys for her own work, unpacking gender relationships, the domestic ideal of the 1950s, and the myth of the American dream in tiny, staged scenes.
‘I was simply trying to recreate a feeling or mood from the time I was growing up,’ Simmons said in a statement, ‘a sense of the 1950s that I knew was both beautiful and lethal at the same time.’ The series, which went on to form Early Black & White (1976-78), serves as the namesake for ‘Laurie Simmons: Big Camera/Little Camera’, a major survey of the the former Wallpaper* Guest Editor’s work at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas.
The eponymous image, Big Camera/Little Camera (1976), depicts a small toy camera next to one given to Simmons by her father: ‘I put the two cameras together for scale, and as a metaphor – real life versus fiction. It was also a statement about what I intended to do with the camera.’
The retrospective spans four decades of work by Simmons, including her renowned series Walking & Lying Objects (1987-1991), in which the artist began to work with larger, fantastical props; The Love Doll, (2009-11), centring on luxury life-size Japanese dolls; and How We See (2015), where young women seemingly stare out at us through closed eyes, painted like those of dolls.
Together, the bodies of work on view at the Tadao Ando-designed museum trace her career-long fascination of gender roles, with these themes moving to the forefront of the cultural conversation in 2018. The show includes screenings of two video works, The Music of Regret (2006), featuring Meryl Streep, and My Art (2016) – written and directed by, and starring Simmons – a feature-length film about a New York artist’s relationship to her work, Simmons herself becoming the performer of an identity, the artist, the object.
INFORMATION
‘Laurie Simmons: Big Camera/Little Camera’ is on view until 27 January 2019. The exhibition will then travel tp the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where it will run from 2 Ferbruary – 5 May 2019. For more information, visit the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
ADDRESS
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth
Texas
-
The Emory, RSHP’s first luxury hotel in London, is a rising star
New London hotel The Emory presents the perfect showcase of RSHP’s signature functionalist style and hospitality group Maybourne’s elevated luxury
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘Born in Oasi Zegna: The Book’ looks back to the house’s Alpine roots
Published by Rizzoli, ‘Born in Oasi Zegna’ looks towards the Oasi Zegna natural territory in the Italian Alps, where ZEGNA opened its first wool mill in 1910 and has since fostered a thriving natural ecosystem of more than 500,000 trees
By Jack Moss Published
-
The New York art exhibitions to see now
From MoMA to the smaller spaces, here are the best New York art exhibitions to catch before in May 2024.
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The New York art exhibitions to see now
From MoMA to the smaller spaces, here are the best New York art exhibitions to catch before in May 2024.
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Surreal, uncanny, seductive: step into Graham Little’s world
Scottish artist Graham Little presents his first US retrospective at The FLAG Art Foundation in New York
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The cosmos meets art history in Vivian Greven’s New York exhibition
Vivian Greven’s ‘When the Sun Hits the Moon’, at Perrotin in New York City, is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the USA
By Emily McDermott Published
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertising
A new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema
‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
By Anne Soward Published
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in America
BLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
By Timothy Anscombe-Bell Published
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrative
In Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published