Exhibition Review: Color Pictures/Deep Photos 2007-2022
Laurie Simmons
Color Pictures/Deep Photos (Seven Women/Fireplace), 2007-2022 Flex print, paper, resin, acrylic paint, wood
10 3/4 x 13 x 2 in (27.3 x 33 x 5.1 cm)
Written by Nina Rivera
Photo Edited by Alanna Reid
Copyedited by Chloë Rain
56 Henry presents Color Pictures/Deep Photos 2007-2022, a stunning exhibition of new work by artist, photographer and filmmaker, Laurie Simmons.
Known for her photographic explorations of dolls and miniatures since the 1970s, Simmons' work often obscures the borders between what we know as reality and what we’ve always believed to be fiction. This blurring of worlds is utilized in Simmons’ work of the archetypal female gender roles within various spaces of society. Throughout her career, she has elaborated on the young girl’s doll in positions frequently overlooked, such as a ventriloquist puppet, a mannequin, a sex doll, or even herself dressed up in the place of a plastic toy. Each version furthers a conversation about the existence of complex gendered constructs in every single facet of life. Someone’s choice of clothing, career, food, or homestyle can provide a sense of security for their persona, but in the same manner can create a suffocating labeled system of oppression.
In Color Pictures/Deep Photos, Simmons continues to demonstrate her practice of careful craftsmanship and constant readjustments. Each piece is one that has been assembled and disassembled, fiddled with and purposely arranged down to the last minute detail. This description sounds as though there isn’t room for further perspective on the subject, but Simmons’ approach is exactly the kind of process that allows for an alternative narrative to age-old stories. As 56 Henry notes, Simmons has restructured stereotypical ideas of women’s work “to collapse divisions between public and private, action and repose, looking and being looked at, and employ her singular photographic language toward the sweeping, capacious work of world-making.”
Laurie Simmons
Color Pictures/Deep Photos (White Toilet/Girl in Jeans/Pink Sink), 2007-2022 Ink jet, plastic, resin, wood
10 3/4 x 13 x 3 in (27.3 x 33 x 7.6 cm)
In this particular exhibition, Simmons has redesigned a series she created over a decade ago, in which she saved and printed out images of women from amateur-pornography websites. Taking these cut-outs, she posed each woman alongside dollhouse sets and furniture under David Lynch-esque lighting, essentially creating her own paper dolls. These tiny toilets, instruments, and other objects were photographed with women arranged in various positions, some of them adorned with colorful drawings or small decor to cover their bodies. While Simmons’ original intention was to print each image out as large-scale photographs, it never came to fruition with the trajectory of her work at the time.
Now, after being unreleased for so long, Simmons has revealed each photograph in a much smaller format placed in deep lined frames. From far away, each image appears to be the standard workings of collage, but upon closer inspection, the frames are set so deep in order to accommodate the clear resin that Simmons poured into them. The resin keeps the miniature furniture situated over the photographs in place and feels quite fitting for the nature of each “doll-scape” presented in the exhibition.
Laurie Simmons
Color Pictures/Deep Photos (Jackson Pollock), 2007-2022 Ink jet, latex paint, resin, wood
13 x 10 3/4 x 2 in (33 x 27.3 x 5.1 cm)
In one photograph titled Jackson Pollock, a woman is splayed out seductively over a canvas of Jackson Pollock’s, where he stands above her, attempting to paint in his infamous drip technique. Using the resin as a form of layering, Simmons creates her own drip technique to further embed the woman into the space and the visage of a muse for painting. In another titled Green Clay Bikini/Piano, a woman is covered by a clay bikini, made by Simmons, and sits in front of a piano while she masturbates. Included are miniatures of a lamp and vase on top of the photographed piano, as well as a tiny piano stuck in caddy-corner positioning by the resin. The indentations these objects make in the material resemble that of plastic packaging with accessories for a doll.
While visibly ridiculous and oftentimes humorous in appearance, there is something strangely magnetic in each photograph that speaks to the inherent feminine power of women. Recontextualizing the visual language of male pleasure into something that is solely about womanhood invents an actual space for these women to exist in, rather than the anonymous cesspool of the internet. They are playful, striking and just as real as the projections that young girls place onto their dolls. Simmons’ intention, as always, is to capture the true presence of real women.
Laurie Simmons
Color Pictures/Deep Photos (Pink Dressing Table with Toiletries), 2007-2022 Flex print, plastic, acrylic paint, paper, resin, wood
10 3/4 x 13 x 3 in (27.3 x 33 x 7.6 cm)
Color Pictures/Deep Photos 2007–2022, is presented by 56 HENRY and is on view from November 9, 2022 through January 15, 2023 at 56 Henry Street, New York, NY, 10002. This is Laurie Simmons' first exhibition with 56 HENRY.
