Sunday, December 8, 2024

Interview: Lorna Simpson On Perspective, the Complexity of Layering, and Doing What She Wants

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Art Colossal Photography

#collage #Lorna Simpson #paper

A collage of a woman wearing a crystal headdress with two crystals nearby

“Earth & Sky #24” (2016), collage on paper, 11 x 8 1/2 inches. All photos by James Wang, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth, © Lorna Simpson, shared with permission

Though Lorna Simpson is known primarily as a photographer, she doesn’t limit herself to one particular medium, working across photography, painting, collage, and sculpture in an intuitive process she discusses in a new interview.

I think in terms of making art or working, it’s not always comfortable. It’s not always assured…A lot of times, there’s maybe a lot of questions, or it can have that thing where I’m not quite sure if I’m pulling it off. I’m not quite sure if it’s a good idea or how it works. Time and again, I’ve come to respect being uncomfortable and leaning more into the process of figuring things out as a way of proceeding.

In this conversation with Colossal contributor Paulette Beete, Simpson describes how her perspective and gaze changes over time, why she needs to forestall the analytical when creating, and what it’s meant, as a Black woman artist, to always be loyal to herself and her work.

Read the interview.

A collage of three woman with disjointed faces

“Walk with me” (2020), collage on paper, 29 3/8 x 22 1/2 inches

#collage #Lorna Simpson #paper

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