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Artist Statement
My work with film and painting 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 acrylic and oil paintings on varying surfaces including canvas, maple and paper mounted to panel, 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 "Delay 1," (2012) I have constructed a maple panel and frame to use as a surface, employing the constructed frame as a compositional device much like the view finder of a film camera in order to make the painting inside the structure, finding the image through the frame. In the series “Please look behind you” (2011), 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.
Recent film works, including “The Swimmer” (2012), “"IF NOW THEN," (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. A currently in-progress pairing to "RR," titled, "10,000 Things" depicts a young performer altering the piano owned by John Cage and performing one of Cage's prepared piano scores in the former Merce Cunningham dance studio. Here the consideration of a space and an object becomes animated through sound and performance.
My work with film and painting 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 acrylic and oil paintings on varying surfaces including canvas, maple and paper mounted to panel, 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 "Delay 1," (2012) I have constructed a maple panel and frame to use as a surface, employing the constructed frame as a compositional device much like the view finder of a film camera in order to make the painting inside the structure, finding the image through the frame. In the series “Please look behind you” (2011), 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.
Recent film works, including “The Swimmer” (2012), “"IF NOW THEN," (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. A currently in-progress pairing to "RR," titled, "10,000 Things" depicts a young performer altering the piano owned by John Cage and performing one of Cage's prepared piano scores in the former Merce Cunningham dance studio. Here the consideration of a space and an object becomes animated through sound and performance.
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
2000 BA Creative Writing and American Literature, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma WA
RESIDENCIES
2011 Kamov Residency / Art in General Eastern European Exchange, Zagreb and Rijeka, Croatia
2007 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Residency, Skowhegan ME
2004 Centrum Residency, Fort Warden State Park, Port Townsend WA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2013 The Hollow Center, Smack Mellon, New York
2012 Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern, Bortolami, New York
2012 Karina Bisch, Yelena Popova, Mary Simpson, Hilary Crisp, London
2011 Tailgates and Substitutes, Thierry Goldberg, New York
2011 Tom Burr (Collaboration), Almine Rech, Brussels
2011 Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner, New York
2010 Half a Self, a Cave Dweller, Saint Cecillia Parish, New York
2010 Faculty Exhibition, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York
2010 Relax, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition, Art in General, New York
2009 How to Draw a Cathedral, Max Protetch, New York
2009 MFA Thesis Show, Columbia University, Fisher Landau Center for Contemporary Art, New York
2009 Young Americans, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
2008 Bivouac, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York
2008 Floating Architectures and Constant Centers: Some Projections, Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, PA
2008 Thermostat, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA
2008 First Year MFA Show, Columbia University, New York
2007 Nocturnes, Boise Art Museum, Boise ID
2007 Thermostat: Video and the Pacific Northwest, Art Video Lounge, Art Basel Miami Beach FL
2007 Billy in the Lowground, Punch Gallery, Seattle WA
2006 Pause, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
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
2005 Hello Central, Give Me Heaven, Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
FILM SCREENINGS AND LECTURES
2012 Susan Howe, Emily Dickinson and Rosemarie Trockel, hosted by Mary Simpson, The Artists Institute, New York
2011 Brick and Mortar Video Festival, Greenfield, MA
2010 Supposition of the Now, CAM2 Madrid, Spain
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program, The Kitchen, New York
2007 Endless Summer—Selections from the Skowhegan Artist Residency Program, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle WA
2007 Animations, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan ME
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Artist Presentation, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle WA
2006 Billy in the Lowground, Screening, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle WA
2006 Projections, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle WA
TEACHING
2013 Eye & Idea: Critical Theory and Artistic Practice, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2013 Projects in 16mm Film, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2013 Video 1: Introduction to the Moving Image, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2012 Intro and Advanced 16mm Film, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2012 Video 1: Introduction to the Moving Image, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2012 Eye & Idea: Critical Theory and Artistic Practice, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2011 Senior Thesis, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2010 Imprinted Image: Intaglio Printmaking, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2009 Graphic Image: Silkscreen Printmaking, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
AWARDS
2012 Smithsonian Contemporary Artist Award Nominee, Washington, DC
2011 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Visual Art Grant Award Nominee, New York
2007-09 Columbia University Teaching Assistance Fellowship, New York
2008 Herbert S. Germaise Endowed Fellowship Award, Columbia University, New York
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 WA
2007 The Gay Clifford Award, The Slade School of Fine Art, London
2006 Seattle Art Museum Special Recognition Award, Seattle WA
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Finalist, Seattle WA
2006 Northwest Film Forum 16mm Equipment Access Grant, Seattle WA
2005 4Culture Special Projects Grant, Seattle WA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Isla Leaver-Yap, “Mary Simpson: Leap/Linger” Afterall Online, November 2011
(Written by Mary Simpson): “Charline von Heyl: Now or Else,” Parkett Issue No. 89, November 2011
Isla Leaver-Yap, “Mary Simpson: MAP Commission,” MAP Magazine, UK, 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
2000 BA Creative Writing and American Literature, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma WA
RESIDENCIES
2011 Kamov Residency / Art in General Eastern European Exchange, Zagreb and Rijeka, Croatia
2007 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Residency, Skowhegan ME
2004 Centrum Residency, Fort Warden State Park, Port Townsend WA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2013 The Hollow Center, Smack Mellon, New York
2012 Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern, Bortolami, New York
2012 Karina Bisch, Yelena Popova, Mary Simpson, Hilary Crisp, London
2011 Tailgates and Substitutes, Thierry Goldberg, New York
2011 Tom Burr (Collaboration), Almine Rech, Brussels
2011 Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner, New York
2010 Half a Self, a Cave Dweller, Saint Cecillia Parish, New York
2010 Faculty Exhibition, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York
2010 Relax, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program Exhibition, Art in General, New York
2009 How to Draw a Cathedral, Max Protetch, New York
2009 MFA Thesis Show, Columbia University, Fisher Landau Center for Contemporary Art, New York
2009 Young Americans, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle
2008 Bivouac, Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York
2008 Floating Architectures and Constant Centers: Some Projections, Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, PA
2008 Thermostat, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA
2008 First Year MFA Show, Columbia University, New York
2007 Nocturnes, Boise Art Museum, Boise ID
2007 Thermostat: Video and the Pacific Northwest, Art Video Lounge, Art Basel Miami Beach FL
2007 Billy in the Lowground, Punch Gallery, Seattle WA
2006 Pause, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
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
2005 Hello Central, Give Me Heaven, Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land, Tacoma Contemporary, Tacoma WA
FILM SCREENINGS AND LECTURES
2012 Susan Howe, Emily Dickinson and Rosemarie Trockel, hosted by Mary Simpson, The Artists Institute, New York
2011 Brick and Mortar Video Festival, Greenfield, MA
2010 Supposition of the Now, CAM2 Madrid, Spain
2010 Whitney Independent Study Program, The Kitchen, New York
2007 Endless Summer—Selections from the Skowhegan Artist Residency Program, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle WA
2007 Animations, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan ME
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Artist Presentation, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle WA
2006 Billy in the Lowground, Screening, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle WA
2006 Projections, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle WA
TEACHING
2013 Eye & Idea: Critical Theory and Artistic Practice, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2013 Projects in 16mm Film, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2013 Video 1: Introduction to the Moving Image, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2012 Intro and Advanced 16mm Film, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2012 Video 1: Introduction to the Moving Image, School of Art, Cooper Union, New York
2012 Eye & Idea: Critical Theory and Artistic Practice, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2011 Senior Thesis, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2010 Imprinted Image: Intaglio Printmaking, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
2009 Graphic Image: Silkscreen Printmaking, School of the Arts Undergraduate Program, Columbia University
AWARDS
2012 Smithsonian Contemporary Artist Award Nominee, Washington, DC
2011 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Visual Art Grant Award Nominee, New York
2007-09 Columbia University Teaching Assistance Fellowship, New York
2008 Herbert S. Germaise Endowed Fellowship Award, Columbia University, New York
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 WA
2007 The Gay Clifford Award, The Slade School of Fine Art, London
2006 Seattle Art Museum Special Recognition Award, Seattle WA
2006 Betty Bowen Memorial Award Finalist, Seattle WA
2006 Northwest Film Forum 16mm Equipment Access Grant, Seattle WA
2005 4Culture Special Projects Grant, Seattle WA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Isla Leaver-Yap, “Mary Simpson: Leap/Linger” Afterall Online, November 2011
(Written by Mary Simpson): “Charline von Heyl: Now or Else,” Parkett Issue No. 89, November 2011
Isla Leaver-Yap, “Mary Simpson: MAP Commission,” MAP Magazine, UK, 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
The SwimmerHD Video, 2012
7 Minutes
The SwimmerHD Video, 2012
7 Minutes
Delay 1Oil on maple, 2012
22" x 28"
Installation view, "Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern."Curated by Tom Burr, Bortolami Gallery, 2012
Left: Mary Simpson, "RR," 16mm film projection
Center: Mary Simpson, "Delay 1," Oil on maple
Center and Right: Josephine Pryde, Ull Hohn
IF NOW THENSuper-16mm film, 2011
7 minutes
IF NOW THENSuper-16mm film, 2011
7 minutes
MarsyasSuper-16mm film, 2011
1 minute
Young Americans16mm film, 2009
12 minutes
LoAcrylic and oil on canvas, 2012
30" x 28"
WringerAcrylic and oil on canvas, 2012
30" x 28"
Installation view, "Offset Summary," Rachel Uffner Galery, New YorkRight: Mary Simpson, "Please Look Behind You 1-3," Oil on paper mounted on panel, 2011
Center: Yves Klein, "Dimanche, le journal d'un seul jour," 1960
Left: Mary Simpson, "Marsyas," Super-16mm film, 2011
Please Look Behind You 11Oil on paper mounted on panel, 2011
22" x 28"
Please Look Behind You 1Oil on paper mounted on panel, 2011
22" x 28"
Please Look Behind You 3Oil on paper mounted on panel, 2011
22" x 28"
RR16mm film, 2010
4 minutes
RR16mm film, 2010
4 minutes
10,000 ThingsSuper-16mm film, In-progress (2013)
10,000 ThingsSuper-16mm film, In-progress (2013)
Untitled16mm film, 2011
2 minutes
Black FlagsSuper-8 film, 2009
4 minutes