Art: Brooklyn-born Lorna Simpson's Paris retrospective is both subtle and arresting

Date
11 June 2013

Lorna Simpson’s work combines text, photography, film and found objects with a seldom-seen poignancy which is as emotive as it is sincere. Known principally for her subversion of themes such as gender, culture and the black body in the 1980s and 1990s, she calls heavily upon ideas about perception and false representation within cultural identity. Perhaps the most arresting element of her work is the way she links fragments of text with images, reconfiguring the relationship between different media.

In her first ever European exhibition at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, Lorna shows work spanning 30 years, allowing viewers a rare opportunity to engage with her video installations alongside her better-known work. The show gives an arresting and very beautiful insight into the work of an artist who has slipped out of the spotlight all too often.

Lorna Simpson is at the the Jeu de Paume until September 1.

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Lorna Simpson: Waterbearer, 1986

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Lorna Simpson: Wigs II, 1994-2006

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Lorna Simpson: The Car, 1995

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Lorna Simpson: The Car, 1995

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Lorna Simpson: Chess, 2013

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Lorna Simpson: Five Day Forecast, 1988

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Lorna Simpson: Cloudscape, 2004

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Lorna Simpson: Please Remind Me of Who I Am, 2009

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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