Lorna Simpson, 15 Mouths, 2002
LORNA SIMPSON
15 Mouths, 2002
15 Iris prints on velour paper mounted on Hahnemuhle cooperplate paper with letterpress text on each page
Each sheet: 10 x 8 inches; Each image: 1 3/4 x 3 1/4 inches; overall dimensions variable upon installation
Courtesy of Lorna Simpson and Salon 94, New York
*NOT ON VIEW*
Since the mid-1980s, Lorna Simpson has made art that explores and challenges conventions about identity, gender, history, memory, and culture. Simpson’s conceptual photography often links images with text to create works that both intrigue and perplex: the meanings of her works are never straightforward. In the print portfolio 15 Mouths, Simpson pairs closely cropped images of lips with ambiguous phrases such as, “uncontrollably loud” and “immeasurably deep.” The portfolio is arranged in a dispersed, site-specific configuration, inviting viewers into their own creative processes of reading and looking while thwarting the possibility of discovering any one underlying narrative. This work, as in many others in Simpson’s oeuvre, requires the viewer to participate actively, if inconclusively, in its interpretation.
Stamp Gallery, 2016
