Gary Simmons: Public Enemy is the first comprehensive career survey of the work of multidisciplinary artist Gary Simmons (b. 1964, New York; lives in Los Angeles). The most in-depth presentation of Simmons’ work to date, the exhibition covers 30 years of the artist’s career, encompassing approximately 70 works.
Since the late 1980s, Simmons has played a key role in situating questions of race, class, and identity at the center of contemporary art discourse. Notable for his early application of conceptual artistic strategies, Simmons exposes and analyzes histories of racism inscribed in US visual culture.
Over the course of his career, Simmons has revealed traces of these histories in the fields of sports, cinema, literature, music, architecture, and urbanism, while drawing heavily on popular genres such as hip-hop, horror, and science fiction. Guided by an internal logic, his approach is cool, analytical, and unflinching in its interrogation of intense historical narratives, yet the results consistently deliver a strong emotional charge.
Photo: Scott McCrossen/FIVE65 Design
In this timely exhibition—accompanied by a major exhibition catalogue and slate of related programs—visitors will gain a holistic understanding of the complex and profoundly moving work of this groundbreaking and influential artist.
Gary Simmons: Public Enemy is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Pérez Art Museum Miami. The exhibition is curated by René Morales, James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator, and Jadine Collingwood, Assistant Curator, with Jack Schneider, Curatorial Associate, of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. At Pérez Art Museum Miami, the exhibition is presented by Citi with lead individual support from Patricia and William Kleh. Support from Ford Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Funding Arts Network is gratefully acknowledge
