Laurie Simmons
March 3–May 20, 2012
Laurie Simmons (b. 1949) is an important figure in contemporary conceptual photography. The exhibition at the Gothenburg Museum of Art was her first solo exhibition in Scandinavia. The exhibition featured a broad selection of photographs from the mid-1970s until today. In total around 60 works were shown; photographs, sculptures and video works.
She belongs to the “Picture Generation” that emerged in New York at the end of the 1970s, which also includes Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince, among others. These artists share an interest in the specific history and characteristics of photography, and how we both utilize and are influenced by photographic images.
Simmons was a pioneer in colour photography and her visual style is similar to that of cinema and advertising. Often she works with dolls, objects and models of interiors and houses. With her psychological, political and conceptual approach, she transforms the tendency of photography to objectify human beings, especially women, into a coherent critique of the medium.
The exhibition was produced by the Gothenburg Museum of Art. The catalogue that accompanied the exhibition includes an essay by Norwegian writer and museum director Åsmund Thorkildsen.