Mary Simpson Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
My work with film, photography, painting, print and installation is part of an ongoing investigation into gesture, image sequencing, and affect. Considering gesture as a muted language, I recuperate its allegorical potential by positioning it in the often-contested place of icon, symbol, and linguistic meaning.
Through painting, photography, and collage, images are presented in a heightened state of negotiation where the original moment of creation—the first material form of the image or social gesture—often appears as something that has already been repeated and removed, becoming a figment or ghost. In the painting series “Please look behind you” (2011), for example, a circle created by dragging a palette knife across a canvas is repeated across multiple surfaces and scenes—embellished and made strange in relation to the original mark—until abstraction attains the linguistic function of punctuation. Similarly, an intimate close-up exchange between two men in the 16mm film “Black Flags” (2009) depicts a scene of rivalry, interrogation, and possible reconciliation as it repeats and exhausts narrative conclusion.
A further insistence upon the connection between the physicality of a painted gesture and the structural materiality of film exists in a sequence of collages that bring together selected 16mm film stills with iconographic marks culled from my paintings. In a recent series, the colloquial phrase “This won’t hurt a bit” serves as a common warning that prefaces pain and the puncturing of a body’s surface. Here, the phrase begins a sequence of images that attempt to create an affective register, occupying the place of critique. Pairing the phrase with an ethnographic portrait of a nude female—a vintage photograph from an unknown photographer—enacts an out-of-context quality that allows the directness of her gaze to go beyond the typical centerfold reading. The phrase corresponds with the look in her eyes, separating her from the context of the pose and allowing the gesture to step forward and become visible in a new way. The pose becomes resilient, maintaining an authenticity even in the face of violent de-contextualization.
Recent film works, including “The Swimmer” (2011), “Marsyas” (2010), and “Young Americans” (2009) further show my exploration of narration, abstraction, and gesture. By acting out roles that challenge a fixed cultural context, the works employ strategies of estrangement alongside direct engagements with materiality, figuration, and task-oriented performance; simple backdrops, meager sets and score-based interactions position the performing body in tension with a parsing and taking apart of linguistic and narrative expectations. Additional film works also explore the affective potential of objects and architecture, including the 16mm film “RR” (2010), a filmic portrait of the cast iron stove in the kitchen of Robert Rauschenberg’s studio on Lafayette Street. In this piece the space for consideration of an object is extended through duration and framing—abstracting details while inviting a viewer’s imagination to fill in the gaps of what is left outside the frame.
For more information and to view film/video excerpts please visit my Vimeo channel and my website at the following links:
http://vimeo.com/user8133959/videos
www.marysimpson.net
My work with film, photography, painting, print and installation is part of an ongoing investigation into gesture, image sequencing, and affect. Considering gesture as a muted language, I recuperate its allegorical potential by positioning it in the often-contested place of icon, symbol, and linguistic meaning.
Through painting, photography, and collage, images are presented in a heightened state of negotiation where the original moment of creation—the first material form of the image or social gesture—often appears as something that has already been repeated and removed, becoming a figment or ghost. In the painting series “Please look behind you” (2011), for example, a circle created by dragging a palette knife across a canvas is repeated across multiple surfaces and scenes—embellished and made strange in relation to the original mark—until abstraction attains the linguistic function of punctuation. Similarly, an intimate close-up exchange between two men in the 16mm film “Black Flags” (2009) depicts a scene of rivalry, interrogation, and possible reconciliation as it repeats and exhausts narrative conclusion.
A further insistence upon the connection between the physicality of a painted gesture and the structural materiality of film exists in a sequence of collages that bring together selected 16mm film stills with iconographic marks culled from my paintings. In a recent series, the colloquial phrase “This won’t hurt a bit” serves as a common warning that prefaces pain and the puncturing of a body’s surface. Here, the phrase begins a sequence of images that attempt to create an affective register, occupying the place of critique. Pairing the phrase with an ethnographic portrait of a nude female—a vintage photograph from an unknown photographer—enacts an out-of-context quality that allows the directness of her gaze to go beyond the typical centerfold reading. The phrase corresponds with the look in her eyes, separating her from the context of the pose and allowing the gesture to step forward and become visible in a new way. The pose becomes resilient, maintaining an authenticity even in the face of violent de-contextualization.
Recent film works, including “The Swimmer” (2011), “Marsyas” (2010), and “Young Americans” (2009) further show my exploration of narration, abstraction, and gesture. By acting out roles that challenge a fixed cultural context, the works employ strategies of estrangement alongside direct engagements with materiality, figuration, and task-oriented performance; simple backdrops, meager sets and score-based interactions position the performing body in tension with a parsing and taking apart of linguistic and narrative expectations. Additional film works also explore the affective potential of objects and architecture, including the 16mm film “RR” (2010), a filmic portrait of the cast iron stove in the kitchen of Robert Rauschenberg’s studio on Lafayette Street. In this piece the space for consideration of an object is extended through duration and framing—abstracting details while inviting a viewer’s imagination to fill in the gaps of what is left outside the frame.
For more information and to view film/video excerpts please visit my Vimeo channel and my website at the following links:
http://vimeo.com/user8133959/videos
www.marysimpson.net
CV
MARY SIMPSON
1978 born in Anchorage, AK
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
EDUCATION
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum, New York
2009 MFA Visual Arts, Columbia University, New York
RESIDENCIES
2011 Art in General Eastern European Exchange, Zagreb, Croatia
2007 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Residency, Skowhegan ME
2004 Centrum Residency, Fort Warden State Park, Port Townsend WA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Tom Burr (collaboration), Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels
2011 Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner Gallery
2010 Half a Self, a Cave Dweller, curated by David Everitt Howe, Saint Cecillia Parish, NY
2010 Faculty Exhibition, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY
2010 Relax, curated by Bridget Donahue, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition, Art in General, NY
2009 MFA Thesis Show, Columbia University, Fisher Landau Center for Contemporary Art
2008 First Year MFA Show, Columbia University
2007 Nocturnes, Boise Art Museum, Boise ID
2006 The Wired Forest, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland WA
2006 Works on Paper, Davidson Contemporary, Seattle
2006 Wait Until Spring, Brother, Seattle (solo show)
2005 Nocturnes, SOIL Gallery, Seattle
2005 Unearthing, SOIL Gallery, Seattle
2005 Release & Capture—Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland WA
SIMPSON/MEADE SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner Gallery
2010 Half a Self, a Cave Dweller, curated by David Everitt Howe, Saint Cecillia Parish, NY
2009 How to Draw a Cathedral, Max Protetch Gallery, NY
2009 Young Americans, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (solo show)
2008 Bivouac, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY
2008 Floating Architectures and Constant Centers: Some Projections, Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, PA
2008 Thermostat, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
2007 Thermostat: Video and the Pacific Northwest, Art Video Lounge, Art Basel Miami Beach
2007 Billy in the Lowground, Punch Gallery, Seattle
2006 Pause, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
2005 Hello Central, Give Me Heaven, Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
FILM SCREENINGS AND LECTURES
2010 Supposition of the Now, CAM2 Madrid, Spain
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program, The Kitchen, NY
2007 Endless Summer—Selections from the Skowhegan Artist Residency Program, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle
2007 Animations, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan ME
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Artist Presentation, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle
2006 Billy in the Lowground, Screening, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle
2006 Projections, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
AWARDS
2008 Herbert S. Germaise Endowed Fellowship Award, Columbia University, NY
2007 LeRoy Neiman Center Print Fellowship, Columbia University, New York
2007 Jacob K. Javits Commended Scholar, Javits Foundation, New York
2007 4Culture Special Projects Grant, Seattle
2007 The Gay Clifford Award, The Slade School of Fine Art, London
2006 Seattle Art Museum / PONCHO Special Recognition Award, Seattle
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Finalist, Seattle
2006 Northwest Film Forum 16mm Equipment Access Grant, Seattle
2005 4Culture Special Projects Grant, Seattle
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Isla Leaver-Yap, “Mary Simpson: MAP Commission,” MAP Magazine, Scotland, June 2011
Claire Barliant, “Offset Summary,” The New Yorker, February 7, 2011
David Everitt Howe, ‘Studio Visit,’ Flash Art Online, January 28, 2011
Jen Graves, ‘Young Americans,’ The Stranger, May 5 – May 11, 2009
Regina Hackett, ‘Video Artists Take the Temperature of our Region at Seattle Art Museum’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 21, 2008
Michael Darling, Art Basel Miami Beach, Exhibition Catalogue, December 2007
Fionn Meade, Nocturnes, Exhibition Catalogue, August 2007
Regina Hackett, ‘Visual Arts: Best of 2006’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 29, 2006
Jen Graves, ‘In Arts News: Sovereign and Tantalizing’, The Stranger, Nov 23 – Nov 29, 2006
Suzanne Beale, ‘Billy in the Lowground’, The Seattle Weekly, Nov 22, 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘Compelling Installations’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 17, 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘Visions of Nature in the Age of Technology’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 27, 2006
‘Private Screening’, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, September 2006
Nate Lippens, ‘Works on Paper’, Visual Codec, September 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘Davidson Contemporary is coming up fast on the contemporary scene’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 18, 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘In the Galleries: August’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 3, 2006
Jen Graves, ‘In Arts News: Wait Until Spring, Brother’, The Stranger, Apr 27 – May 3, 2006
Jen Graves, ‘Stranger Suggests: Projections’, The Stranger, Feb 2 – Feb 8, 2006
Nate Lippens, ‘Visual Art: Ones to Watch’, The Stranger, Oct 8 – Oct 14, 2005
Andrew Engelson, ‘Visual Arts Pick: Nocturnes’, Seattle Weekly, Sep 21 – 27, 2005
Nate Lippens, ‘Just the Motion: The Handmade Animation of ‘Nocturnes’’, The Stranger, Sep 8 – Sep 14, 2005
Fionn Meade, Nocturnes, Exhibition Catalogue, September 2005
Matthew Kangas, ‘Young talent leaves paper trail’, The Seattle Times, April 22, 2005
Nate Lippens, ‘On Exhibit – Group Shows: Released, Wanted, and Glimpsed’, The Stranger, April 7 – April 13, 2005
Regina Hackett, ‘NW artists deliver a superb flight of fancy in ‘Release & Capture’’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 25, 2005
Nate Lippens: ‘Stranger Suggests’, The Stranger, Mar 10 – Mar 16, 2005
Andrew Engelson, ‘Visual Arts Pick, Release & Capture’, Seattle Weekly, March 16 – 22, 2005
Jen Graves, ‘The Tollbooth beckons for thee’, Tacoma News Tribune, March 6, 2005
Nate Lippens, ‘Hello Central: A collaborative work on the nature of propaganda’, The Stranger, Feb 17 – Feb 23, 2005
MARY SIMPSON
1978 born in Anchorage, AK
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
EDUCATION
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum, New York
2009 MFA Visual Arts, Columbia University, New York
RESIDENCIES
2011 Art in General Eastern European Exchange, Zagreb, Croatia
2007 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Residency, Skowhegan ME
2004 Centrum Residency, Fort Warden State Park, Port Townsend WA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Tom Burr (collaboration), Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels
2011 Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner Gallery
2010 Half a Self, a Cave Dweller, curated by David Everitt Howe, Saint Cecillia Parish, NY
2010 Faculty Exhibition, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY
2010 Relax, curated by Bridget Donahue, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition, Art in General, NY
2009 MFA Thesis Show, Columbia University, Fisher Landau Center for Contemporary Art
2008 First Year MFA Show, Columbia University
2007 Nocturnes, Boise Art Museum, Boise ID
2006 The Wired Forest, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland WA
2006 Works on Paper, Davidson Contemporary, Seattle
2006 Wait Until Spring, Brother, Seattle (solo show)
2005 Nocturnes, SOIL Gallery, Seattle
2005 Unearthing, SOIL Gallery, Seattle
2005 Release & Capture—Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland WA
SIMPSON/MEADE SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner Gallery
2010 Half a Self, a Cave Dweller, curated by David Everitt Howe, Saint Cecillia Parish, NY
2009 How to Draw a Cathedral, Max Protetch Gallery, NY
2009 Young Americans, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (solo show)
2008 Bivouac, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY
2008 Floating Architectures and Constant Centers: Some Projections, Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, PA
2008 Thermostat, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
2007 Thermostat: Video and the Pacific Northwest, Art Video Lounge, Art Basel Miami Beach
2007 Billy in the Lowground, Punch Gallery, Seattle
2006 Pause, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
2005 Hello Central, Give Me Heaven, Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
FILM SCREENINGS AND LECTURES
2010 Supposition of the Now, CAM2 Madrid, Spain
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program, The Kitchen, NY
2007 Endless Summer—Selections from the Skowhegan Artist Residency Program, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle
2007 Animations, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan ME
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Artist Presentation, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle
2006 Billy in the Lowground, Screening, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle
2006 Projections, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
AWARDS
2008 Herbert S. Germaise Endowed Fellowship Award, Columbia University, NY
2007 LeRoy Neiman Center Print Fellowship, Columbia University, New York
2007 Jacob K. Javits Commended Scholar, Javits Foundation, New York
2007 4Culture Special Projects Grant, Seattle
2007 The Gay Clifford Award, The Slade School of Fine Art, London
2006 Seattle Art Museum / PONCHO Special Recognition Award, Seattle
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Finalist, Seattle
2006 Northwest Film Forum 16mm Equipment Access Grant, Seattle
2005 4Culture Special Projects Grant, Seattle
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Isla Leaver-Yap, “Mary Simpson: MAP Commission,” MAP Magazine, Scotland, June 2011
Claire Barliant, “Offset Summary,” The New Yorker, February 7, 2011
David Everitt Howe, ‘Studio Visit,’ Flash Art Online, January 28, 2011
Jen Graves, ‘Young Americans,’ The Stranger, May 5 – May 11, 2009
Regina Hackett, ‘Video Artists Take the Temperature of our Region at Seattle Art Museum’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 21, 2008
Michael Darling, Art Basel Miami Beach, Exhibition Catalogue, December 2007
Fionn Meade, Nocturnes, Exhibition Catalogue, August 2007
Regina Hackett, ‘Visual Arts: Best of 2006’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 29, 2006
Jen Graves, ‘In Arts News: Sovereign and Tantalizing’, The Stranger, Nov 23 – Nov 29, 2006
Suzanne Beale, ‘Billy in the Lowground’, The Seattle Weekly, Nov 22, 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘Compelling Installations’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 17, 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘Visions of Nature in the Age of Technology’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 27, 2006
‘Private Screening’, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, September 2006
Nate Lippens, ‘Works on Paper’, Visual Codec, September 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘Davidson Contemporary is coming up fast on the contemporary scene’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 18, 2006
Regina Hackett, ‘In the Galleries: August’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 3, 2006
Jen Graves, ‘In Arts News: Wait Until Spring, Brother’, The Stranger, Apr 27 – May 3, 2006
Jen Graves, ‘Stranger Suggests: Projections’, The Stranger, Feb 2 – Feb 8, 2006
Nate Lippens, ‘Visual Art: Ones to Watch’, The Stranger, Oct 8 – Oct 14, 2005
Andrew Engelson, ‘Visual Arts Pick: Nocturnes’, Seattle Weekly, Sep 21 – 27, 2005
Nate Lippens, ‘Just the Motion: The Handmade Animation of ‘Nocturnes’’, The Stranger, Sep 8 – Sep 14, 2005
Fionn Meade, Nocturnes, Exhibition Catalogue, September 2005
Matthew Kangas, ‘Young talent leaves paper trail’, The Seattle Times, April 22, 2005
Nate Lippens, ‘On Exhibit – Group Shows: Released, Wanted, and Glimpsed’, The Stranger, April 7 – April 13, 2005
Regina Hackett, ‘NW artists deliver a superb flight of fancy in ‘Release & Capture’’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 25, 2005
Nate Lippens: ‘Stranger Suggests’, The Stranger, Mar 10 – Mar 16, 2005
Andrew Engelson, ‘Visual Arts Pick, Release & Capture’, Seattle Weekly, March 16 – 22, 2005
Jen Graves, ‘The Tollbooth beckons for thee’, Tacoma News Tribune, March 6, 2005
Nate Lippens, ‘Hello Central: A collaborative work on the nature of propaganda’, The Stranger, Feb 17 – Feb 23, 2005
From the series “This Won’t Hurt a Bit”Digital collage from 16mm film still
20” x 16”, 2011
From the series “This Won’t Hurt a Bit”Digital collage from 16mm film still
20” x 16”, 2011
From the series “This Won’t Hurt a Bit”Digital collage from 16mm film still
20” x 16”, 2011
From the series “This Won’t Hurt a Bit”Digital collage from 16mm film still
20” x 16”, 2011
From the series “This Won’t Hurt a Bit”Digital collage from 16mm film still
20” x 18”, 2011
Installation view of “Offset Summary,” Rachel Uffner Gallery, January 2011“Please look behind you (1-3),” Oil on paper on panel
22” x 28”, 2011
Installation view of Columbia MFA Thesis Exhibition, May 2009
Installation view of Columbia MFA Thesis Exhibition, May 2009Untitled 1: Felt on steel, dimensions variable, 2009
Untitled 2-3: Felt on panel, 48” x 96”, 2009
Installation view of “Offset Summary,” Rachel Uffner Gallery, January 2011Marsyas, 16mm film transferred to HDV
2 minutes, 2010
Still from Marsyas, 16mm film transferred to HDV2 minutes, 2010
Installation view of “Tom Burr,” Almine Rech Gallery, April 2011“Only Mirrors Make Eyes at Mirrors,” collaboration with Tom Burr:
Wood, metal, stain, paint, 2011, with projection of “RR,” (16mm film
transferred to HDV, 4 minutes, 2010)
Still from “RR,” 16mm film transferred to HDV4 minutes, 2010
“Please look behind you (1),” Oil on paper on panel22” x 28”, 2011
“Please look behind you (3),” Oil on paper on panel22” x 28”, 2011
“After Images (1-6),” Oil on paper on panel18” x 24” each, 2011
Still from “Black Flags,” 16mm film transferred to HDV2 minutes, 2009
Still from “Young Americans,” 16mm film transferred to HDV12 minutes, 2009
Still from “Young Americans,” 16mm film transferred to HDV12 minutes, 2009
Still from “Young Americans,” 16mm film transferred to HDV12 minutes, 2009
Still from “The Swimmer,” HDV6 minutes, 2011