Episode No. 616 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features artist Gary Simmons and curator Sarah L. Eckhardt.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is presenting “Gary Simmons: Public Enemy,” a survey of Simmons’ 35-year career. The exhibition reveals how Simmons has addressed race, class and US history in ways that have remained persistently au courant. It was curated by René Morales and Jadine Collingwood, with Jack Schneider. After closing on October 1, the exhibition will be on view at the Pérez Art Museum Miami from December 5 through April 24, 2024. The MCA Chicago and DelMonico Books have published an outstanding catalogue. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for $56-60.
Simmons was previously on Episodes No. 70 and No. 300.
Along with Drew Thompson, Eckhardt is the co-curator of “Benjamin Wigfall & Communications Village.” It’s at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond through September 10. The exhibition is a survey of Richmond-native Wigfall’s work, and a historicization of Communications Village, the interdisciplinary artist-run project that Wigfall instigated while teaching at the State University of New York, New Paltz in the early 1970s, as the instigator of what we now call social practice. The excellent catalogue was published by the VMFA, which offers it for $40.
Instagram: Gary Simmons, Tyler Green.
Air date: August 24, 2023.
Gary Simmons, Disinformation Supremacy Board (detail), 1989.
Gary Simmons, Disinformation Supremacy Board, 1989.
Gary Simmons, Eraser Chair, 1989.
Gary Simmons, Disinformation Paragraph, 1989.
Gary Simmons, Step into the Arena (The Essentialist Trap), 1994.
Gary Simmons, Step into the Arena (The Essentialist Trap) (detail), 1994.
Gary Simmons, Untitled, 2001.
Gary Simmons, In the Blink of an Eye, 2006.
Gary Simmons, You Can Paint Over Me But I’ll Still Be Here, 2021.
Benjamin Wigfall, Chimneys, 1951.
Benjamin Wigfall, Victim & Accused, 1955.
Benjamin Wigfall, Untitled, ca. 1957-70.
Benjamin Wigfall, Corrosion and Blue, 1957.
Benjamin Wigfall, Burning #3, ca. 1957-63.
Benjamin Wigfall, Rose Tripoli and Diane Hunt, Communications Village Poster, ca. 1977-78.
Bety Blayton, Consume #2, 1969.
Melvin Edwards, Corner for Ana, 1970.
Melvin Edwards, Untitled, 1975.
Jayne Cortez and Melvin Edwards, Carolina Kingston I, 1976.
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