Simone Leigh Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
My art praxis is the creation of sculptures that invoke historical objects and modes of production while, simultaneously, situated in the contemporary. Recently, I have utilized the anthropological term skeuomorph—a derivative object that retains metaphors and ornaments of the original object—as a framing device for my work. Skeuomorphs may be deliberately employed to make the viewer feel more comfortable with something new. My recent sculptures, for instance, suture my interests in putatively obsolete forms, such as the terracotta water pot, with their contemporary surrogates: the plastic bucket or the woven bag made in China and used internationally as luggage. I seek to re-claim constructions of the ethnographic object as an artistic practice, specifically one that references the histories, including loss of authorship, surrounding these forms made by artists called anonymous.
My art praxis is the creation of sculptures that invoke historical objects and modes of production while, simultaneously, situated in the contemporary. Recently, I have utilized the anthropological term skeuomorph—a derivative object that retains metaphors and ornaments of the original object—as a framing device for my work. Skeuomorphs may be deliberately employed to make the viewer feel more comfortable with something new. My recent sculptures, for instance, suture my interests in putatively obsolete forms, such as the terracotta water pot, with their contemporary surrogates: the plastic bucket or the woven bag made in China and used internationally as luggage. I seek to re-claim constructions of the ethnographic object as an artistic practice, specifically one that references the histories, including loss of authorship, surrounding these forms made by artists called anonymous.
CV
Simone Leigh
EDUCATION 1990 BA in Art, minor in Philosophy, Earlham College, Richmond IN
RESIDENCIES/INTERNSHIPS/GRANTS
2009-10 Artist in Residence, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2009 New York Foundation of the Arts fellowship in Sculpture
2009 Art Matters Foundation
2009 Bronx Museum AIM program
2008-09 Artist in Residence, Hunter College
2007-08 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace grant
2007-08 Visiting Artist, School of Visual Arts Computer Art MFA program
2007 Astraea Foundation Visual Arts grant
2006 Artist In Residence, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
2005 Wheeler Foundation grant
2004 Artist in Residence, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY
2001 Kiln God fellowship, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Watershed, ME
2000 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
SOLO and TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2010
Divine Horsemen, with Chitra Ganesh, Mason Gross Galleries, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ,
curated by Latoya Ruby Frazier
2009
The Gods Must Be Crazy, for In Practice, SculptureCenter, Queens, NY
Queen Bee, G Fine Art Project Room, Washington, D.C.
2008
Rush Arts Gallery Project Space, New York, NY
2005
Momenta Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010
Else, Jack Tilton Gallery, curated by Derrick Adams
Wide Sargasso Sea, Deustche Bank, curated by Kimberli Gant
Digression, Hendershot Gallery, curarted by Jessica Shaefer
Comedy and Tradgedy, Marvelli Gallery, curated by David Hunt
Bunny Redux, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA, curated by Eric Shiner
Hair Tactics, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, curated by Rocio Aranda,Alvarado
ves·sel, Brennan Gallery, Jersey City, NJ, curated by Kenya (Robinson)
2009
30 seconds off an inch, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, curated by Naomi Beckwith
Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, curated by Kristina Newman-Scott and Yona Backer
Herd Thinner, Charest-Weinberg Gallery, Miami, FL
The Pleasure of Hating, Lisa Cooley Gallery, New York NY, curated by David Hunt
AIM 29, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY, curated by Micaela Giovannotti
Locus, MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA curated by Lauren Wolk
Pulse, Taller Boricua, New York NY, curated by Curated by Fernando Salicrup and Christine Licata
2008
The Future As Disruption, The Kitchen, New York NY, curated by Rashida Bumbray and Matthew Lyons
Intransit, Moti Hasson Gallery, curated by Omar Lopez-Chadoud
The B-Sides, ALIRA a Center for Contemporary Art, curated by Edwin Ramoran
Archeologies of Wonder, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, curated by Kristina Newman-Scott
Ethnographies of the Future Remixed, Tides Foundation, New York, NY, curated by Sara Reisman
Scratching The Surface VOL 1, L’appartement22, Rabat, Morocco and AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, curated by Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe
Ethnographies of the Future, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY curated by Sara Reisman
2007
Material Culture, Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, Bronx, NY, curated by Juanita Lonzos
Red Badge of Courage, Newark Council for the Arts, Newark, NY, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud
Done by the Forces of Nature, City of College of New York, New York, NY curated by Roberto Visani
Visual Jury, Fine Art Work Center, Provincetown, MA
Defensive Mechanisms (part of INTERSECTIONS) Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center,
New York, NY curated by Martin Dust
2006
Wild Girls, EXIT ART, curated by Jodi Hanel, , Sarah Ryhanen, and Juana Gallo.
Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY, AIR exhibition
Brooklyn Divas, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Figures of Thinking: Convergences in Contemporary Cultures,, curated by Vicky Clark and Sandhini Poddar, various venues including The Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, Richard E. Peeler Art Center, De Pauw University, Greencastle, IN Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA,
The Mc Dounough Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH, Tufts University Gallery, Medford MA and the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, Univeristy of Richmond, Richmond, VA, (with catalog)
2005
“From the Studio: Wish You Were Here…”,Co-dependent: Artists, Artist/Curators, & Curators Select Artists @ The Living Room, Miami, FL, curated by Franklin Sirmans
Remnants and Relics: Reinterpretations in African American Art, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Queens, NY (with catalog) curated by Heng-Gil Han
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY, curated by Bruce W. Ferguson and Milena Honigsberg
James E Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD)
Watershed Kiln Gods, Gallery 1448, Baltimore, MD) (with catalog)
2004
Art Downtown: Connecting Collections, for the Deutsche Bank, New York, NY
Steuben Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore MD
2003
Skylight gallery, Bedford Styvesant Restoration Corporation, Brooklyn, NY and
The Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY
2002
The Center for African American Art and NOEL gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2001
Unspeakable, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Lea K. Green
2000
SMIRK, Women, Art and Humor, Firehouse Gallery, Hempstead, NY, curated by Debra Wacks
(with catalog)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Studio Visit profile in STUDIO Magazine: The Studio Museum of Harlem, Fall 2009,
Written by Uri McMillan
Introducing Simone Leigh, Modern Painters, November, 2008, by Quinn Latimer
Art Review, “Collective Strangeness in Hartford” The New York Times, December 21, 2008, Benjamin Gennochio
Art in Review, “The Future As Disruption”, The New York Times, August 1, 2008, Karen Roxenberg
“The Future As Disruption”, critic’s picks, ARTFORUM.com July, 2008, Colby Chamberlain
“New York Summer Shows: Artinfo.com, July 2008, Clair e Barliant
“Futures Exchange”, Rhizome , July 7, 2008, Ed Halter
SUPERNATURE, Small Axe, A Journal of Carribean Cultural Criticism,
Issue 28, February, 2008
The Artist’s Kitchen, Recycled and Curated, The New York Times, by Penelope Green, June 14, 2007
SIMONE LEIGH, REBEL SOUL, TRACE Magazine, Issue #66, Yolanda Sangweni, October 2006,
The Thinkers, ANGLE, A Journal of Arts and Culture, Issue 29, 2006
By Douglas Max Utter
"Wild Girls," Flavorpill, issue 327, September 12, 2006, link to review
"Women Gone Wild, The Next Generation of Provocative Female Artists," New York Blade, Rafael Risemberg,
July 31, 2006
New York 1 News interview with Stephanie Simon at Wild Girls exhibit aired on June 23, 2006
Heyoka Magazine (online), Volume 4, May 2006
They Called Her Hottentot: The Art, Science and Fiction of Sarah Baartman, anthology edited by Deborah Willis-Kennedy and Carla Williams, February 2006
“Goings On About Town: Art,” The New Yorker, January 17, 2005
“Dateline Brooklyn” ARTnet Magazine, Stephen Maine, (2005)
“In the Realm of the senses: Lisa DiLillo and Simone Leigh,” Flavorpill, issue 241, January 6, 2005
“Brooklyn Artist Who Prefers To Show Others’ Work” The New York Times, Penelope Green, 2.8, 2004
“The Miseducation of Simone Leigh” One World Magazine, Joy Garnett, winter 2001, Issue 13, edited by Paul Laster
“Freedom of Exclusion: The Rise of the Female Spirit in Contemporary Art” L.P Streifeld, NYArts Magazine, December 2001
“Some Laughing Matters, Women’s Art exhibit: More than funny, girl” Steve Parks, Newsday, 3/30/2001
“Bawdy Burlesque, Raucous Ribaldry” Deborah Frizzell, NYArts Magazine, April 2001
CONFERENCES/PANELS/SYMPOSIA
2007
Supernatural, artist talk at Fine Art Work Center, Provincetown, Mass
Mining History, Contemporary Art, The African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Tyler School of Art, moderated by Sophie Sanders
2005
Unparalleled salon, with Carrie Yamaoka, curated by Martha Southgate, Stacey D’Erasmo and Bliss Broyard,
2001
Symposium for the creation of the David Driskell Center on Africa and The Americas, panel on the Art of the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College Park, moderated by Carla Peterson Women’s Caucus for Art Conference, Chicago, Il, “Body Language: Image and Art”, moderated by Marianne Woods
2000
“Slave Markets, Lynched Bodies and Hottentot Vessels: The Black Female Body in 19th. and 20th Century Art”, Feminist Art and Art History Conference, Barnard College, New York, NY, moderated by Adrienne Child
Simone Leigh
EDUCATION 1990 BA in Art, minor in Philosophy, Earlham College, Richmond IN
RESIDENCIES/INTERNSHIPS/GRANTS
2009-10 Artist in Residence, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2009 New York Foundation of the Arts fellowship in Sculpture
2009 Art Matters Foundation
2009 Bronx Museum AIM program
2008-09 Artist in Residence, Hunter College
2007-08 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace grant
2007-08 Visiting Artist, School of Visual Arts Computer Art MFA program
2007 Astraea Foundation Visual Arts grant
2006 Artist In Residence, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
2005 Wheeler Foundation grant
2004 Artist in Residence, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY
2001 Kiln God fellowship, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Watershed, ME
2000 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
SOLO and TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2010
Divine Horsemen, with Chitra Ganesh, Mason Gross Galleries, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ,
curated by Latoya Ruby Frazier
2009
The Gods Must Be Crazy, for In Practice, SculptureCenter, Queens, NY
Queen Bee, G Fine Art Project Room, Washington, D.C.
2008
Rush Arts Gallery Project Space, New York, NY
2005
Momenta Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010
Else, Jack Tilton Gallery, curated by Derrick Adams
Wide Sargasso Sea, Deustche Bank, curated by Kimberli Gant
Digression, Hendershot Gallery, curarted by Jessica Shaefer
Comedy and Tradgedy, Marvelli Gallery, curated by David Hunt
Bunny Redux, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA, curated by Eric Shiner
Hair Tactics, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, curated by Rocio Aranda,Alvarado
ves·sel, Brennan Gallery, Jersey City, NJ, curated by Kenya (Robinson)
2009
30 seconds off an inch, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, curated by Naomi Beckwith
Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, curated by Kristina Newman-Scott and Yona Backer
Herd Thinner, Charest-Weinberg Gallery, Miami, FL
The Pleasure of Hating, Lisa Cooley Gallery, New York NY, curated by David Hunt
AIM 29, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY, curated by Micaela Giovannotti
Locus, MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA curated by Lauren Wolk
Pulse, Taller Boricua, New York NY, curated by Curated by Fernando Salicrup and Christine Licata
2008
The Future As Disruption, The Kitchen, New York NY, curated by Rashida Bumbray and Matthew Lyons
Intransit, Moti Hasson Gallery, curated by Omar Lopez-Chadoud
The B-Sides, ALIRA a Center for Contemporary Art, curated by Edwin Ramoran
Archeologies of Wonder, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, curated by Kristina Newman-Scott
Ethnographies of the Future Remixed, Tides Foundation, New York, NY, curated by Sara Reisman
Scratching The Surface VOL 1, L’appartement22, Rabat, Morocco and AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, curated by Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe
Ethnographies of the Future, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY curated by Sara Reisman
2007
Material Culture, Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, Bronx, NY, curated by Juanita Lonzos
Red Badge of Courage, Newark Council for the Arts, Newark, NY, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud
Done by the Forces of Nature, City of College of New York, New York, NY curated by Roberto Visani
Visual Jury, Fine Art Work Center, Provincetown, MA
Defensive Mechanisms (part of INTERSECTIONS) Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center,
New York, NY curated by Martin Dust
2006
Wild Girls, EXIT ART, curated by Jodi Hanel, , Sarah Ryhanen, and Juana Gallo.
Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY, AIR exhibition
Brooklyn Divas, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Figures of Thinking: Convergences in Contemporary Cultures,, curated by Vicky Clark and Sandhini Poddar, various venues including The Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, Richard E. Peeler Art Center, De Pauw University, Greencastle, IN Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA,
The Mc Dounough Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH, Tufts University Gallery, Medford MA and the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, Univeristy of Richmond, Richmond, VA, (with catalog)
2005
“From the Studio: Wish You Were Here…”,Co-dependent: Artists, Artist/Curators, & Curators Select Artists @ The Living Room, Miami, FL, curated by Franklin Sirmans
Remnants and Relics: Reinterpretations in African American Art, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Queens, NY (with catalog) curated by Heng-Gil Han
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY, curated by Bruce W. Ferguson and Milena Honigsberg
James E Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD)
Watershed Kiln Gods, Gallery 1448, Baltimore, MD) (with catalog)
2004
Art Downtown: Connecting Collections, for the Deutsche Bank, New York, NY
Steuben Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore MD
2003
Skylight gallery, Bedford Styvesant Restoration Corporation, Brooklyn, NY and
The Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY
2002
The Center for African American Art and NOEL gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2001
Unspeakable, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Lea K. Green
2000
SMIRK, Women, Art and Humor, Firehouse Gallery, Hempstead, NY, curated by Debra Wacks
(with catalog)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Studio Visit profile in STUDIO Magazine: The Studio Museum of Harlem, Fall 2009,
Written by Uri McMillan
Introducing Simone Leigh, Modern Painters, November, 2008, by Quinn Latimer
Art Review, “Collective Strangeness in Hartford” The New York Times, December 21, 2008, Benjamin Gennochio
Art in Review, “The Future As Disruption”, The New York Times, August 1, 2008, Karen Roxenberg
“The Future As Disruption”, critic’s picks, ARTFORUM.com July, 2008, Colby Chamberlain
“New York Summer Shows: Artinfo.com, July 2008, Clair e Barliant
“Futures Exchange”, Rhizome , July 7, 2008, Ed Halter
SUPERNATURE, Small Axe, A Journal of Carribean Cultural Criticism,
Issue 28, February, 2008
The Artist’s Kitchen, Recycled and Curated, The New York Times, by Penelope Green, June 14, 2007
SIMONE LEIGH, REBEL SOUL, TRACE Magazine, Issue #66, Yolanda Sangweni, October 2006,
The Thinkers, ANGLE, A Journal of Arts and Culture, Issue 29, 2006
By Douglas Max Utter
"Wild Girls," Flavorpill, issue 327, September 12, 2006, link to review
"Women Gone Wild, The Next Generation of Provocative Female Artists," New York Blade, Rafael Risemberg,
July 31, 2006
New York 1 News interview with Stephanie Simon at Wild Girls exhibit aired on June 23, 2006
Heyoka Magazine (online), Volume 4, May 2006
They Called Her Hottentot: The Art, Science and Fiction of Sarah Baartman, anthology edited by Deborah Willis-Kennedy and Carla Williams, February 2006
“Goings On About Town: Art,” The New Yorker, January 17, 2005
“Dateline Brooklyn” ARTnet Magazine, Stephen Maine, (2005)
“In the Realm of the senses: Lisa DiLillo and Simone Leigh,” Flavorpill, issue 241, January 6, 2005
“Brooklyn Artist Who Prefers To Show Others’ Work” The New York Times, Penelope Green, 2.8, 2004
“The Miseducation of Simone Leigh” One World Magazine, Joy Garnett, winter 2001, Issue 13, edited by Paul Laster
“Freedom of Exclusion: The Rise of the Female Spirit in Contemporary Art” L.P Streifeld, NYArts Magazine, December 2001
“Some Laughing Matters, Women’s Art exhibit: More than funny, girl” Steve Parks, Newsday, 3/30/2001
“Bawdy Burlesque, Raucous Ribaldry” Deborah Frizzell, NYArts Magazine, April 2001
CONFERENCES/PANELS/SYMPOSIA
2007
Supernatural, artist talk at Fine Art Work Center, Provincetown, Mass
Mining History, Contemporary Art, The African American Museum in Philadelphia and the Tyler School of Art, moderated by Sophie Sanders
2005
Unparalleled salon, with Carrie Yamaoka, curated by Martha Southgate, Stacey D’Erasmo and Bliss Broyard,
2001
Symposium for the creation of the David Driskell Center on Africa and The Americas, panel on the Art of the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College Park, moderated by Carla Peterson Women’s Caucus for Art Conference, Chicago, Il, “Body Language: Image and Art”, moderated by Marianne Woods
2000
“Slave Markets, Lynched Bodies and Hottentot Vessels: The Black Female Body in 19th. and 20th Century Art”, Feminist Art and Art History Conference, Barnard College, New York, NY, moderated by Adrienne Child
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" Installation at SculptureCenter, Queens, NY, Summer 2009
yellow stack, stoneware fird in wood-burning, anagama styled kiln, automotive paint, cinderblock, 49" height, 22" depth 22" width, 2009
"Wedgwood bucket", colored porcelain, plastic, 14" width, 14" depth, 12" height, 2008
"Brooch #2", colored porcelain, terracotta, lab apparatus, steel, platinum luster, 2008
"Queen Bee", installation at The Kitchen, New York, NY, terracotta, graphite, T.V. antennae, epoxy, wire, dimensions variable, 2008
"Queen Bee", installation at The Kitchen, New York, NY, terracotta, graphite, T.V. antennae, epoxy, wire, dimensions variable, 2008
video still of "Back and Forth (Uhura)", TRT 5:01 minutes, video, 2008, installed at The Kitchen for LIFT
Monarch, plastic, t-pins, 2008
"slipcover", colored porcelain, plastic, steel, wire, 32" width, 32" height, 8" depth, 2008
"pitch", terracotta, platinum, graphite and basket, 24" width, 23" height, 23" depth, 2007
fetish with workboot scarification (Guiliani Time)
detail of "fetish with workboot scarification (Guiliani Time)"
emperor jones, porcelain, glass, coal, grease paint, graphite, shoe polish, 2010
emperor jones, porcelain, glass, coal, grease paint, graphite, shoe polish, 2010
"Head on a platter", terracotta, automotive paint, graphite, copper, silver, steel, luster glazes, 60" height, 32" width, 32" depth, 2009
side view of "Head on a platter", terracotta, automotive paint, graphite, copper, silver, steel, luster glazes, 60" height, 32" width, 32" depth, 2009
box, wood stoneware, glaze
Installation at Momenta Art gallery
White Teeth, for Ota Benga, porcelain, glaze, gold, glass, steel, wire,
detail, white teeth (for Ota Benga