Gary Simmons: The Engine Room

THE

GARY SIMMONS

ENGINE ROOM Henry

APR 3 – AUG 22, 2021

GARY SIMMONS

The work of Gary Simmons (b. 1964, New York, NY) explores racial, social, and cultural politics, and examines the ways in which we attempt to reconstruct the past via personal and collective memory. Simmons’s practice has evolved over the past three decades to incorporate painting, sculpture, installation, and interactive architectural environments.

His work is occupied by the unfixed nature of an African-American past that remains open to the vagaries of memory— what was revealed, what was remembered, and what has been hidden—through pop cultural imagery from sports, music, flm, and cartoons. In particular, music and music history figure prominently in this

presentation, refracted through the lens of racial identity and representation.

“Returning to the space and creating there you feel the room seep into your ideas. It’s a cool experience that stays with you, making ephemeral permanent.”

– ISHMAEL BUTLER, SHABAZZ PALACES For this commissioned exhibition, Simmons created a large-scale wall painting, a suite of new paintings and sculptures, and a sculptural installation, drawing together disparate components to create space for new interaction and invention.

The wall painting riffs on the artist’s characteristic “erasure drawings,” in which he uses sprayed and physically manipulated chalk on blackboard paint to create ghostly images—in this case, of the lesser-known recordings of Jimi Hendrix 45mm records— the titular B-Sides.

“The space was great and unlike anything we’ve ever done. To be in that space creating, rehearsing, and even just hanging out was an absolute blast. Gary Simmons really did a great job with the garage, and making it such a unique experience.

We already miss it as our space!”

– EVA WALKER, THE BLACK TONES Over many years of research, Simmons has collected and archived band and concert posters from cities around the world in which he has worked (including additions from Seattle music history), digitally reshaping and recomposing them, then adding another layer of physical intervention as the resulting printed pieces are collaged, rotated, ripped, and painted onto panels.

The posters become a single giant painting installation on the interior of the architectural sculpture, Garage Band, which recalls a schematic of a typical suburban garage,

a space that evokes a site of creation, invention, and experimentation—from casual tinkering to the genesis of major music movements and tech innovations.

“What an amazing experience! To be able to perform music with some of Seattle’s most talented musicians and vocalist, in an art museum that means so much to the city near the best college in the country, what a dream!

Not to mention the art that surrounded us in the “garage,” brought so much inspiration and joy to me personally. It’s not everyday that an artist gets the experience to perform doing what they love, with an awesome sound and video crew, with other people they love, in a great space that provides one to grow in ways that can only be witnessed in true form, and that’s what I experienced overall: love.”

– D’VONNE LEWIS, JAMBALAYA JAM

As the exhibition title, The Engine Room, suggests, the installation functions as a generative, interactive space. As both a private laboratory and a public stage drawing on diverse historical and present-day areas of the Seattle music scene, Garage Band was activated by a series of musician residencies over the run of the exhibition tapping into infuential genres and practices that are nonetheless atypically associated with the popular conception of the Seattle music scene.

ARTIST RESIDENCIES The Engine Room residencies were co-organized by the Henry and LANGSTON, an arts & culture organization that guides generative programs and community partnerships centering Black art, artists, and audiences and honors the ongoing legacy of Seattle’s Black Central Area. May residents were The Black Tones; June resident was Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets; and July featured several artists in a build-a-band residency that revives the “Jambalaya” improvisational and experimental jam sessions of Seattle music’s recent past.

THE BLACK TONES MAY 2021 Twin siblings Eva and Cedric Walker founded the Seattle-based rock ‘n’ roll band The Black Tones. The band has earned accolades from outlets like KEXP, named their debut LP, Cobain & Cornbread, the #17 album of 2019; The Seattle Times, which dubbed the group one of the 15 Most Influential Artists of the past decade; and NPR, which named the band one of Seattle’s 15 groups redefining the city.

Seattle-based emcee and producer Ishmael Butler, of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets, draws inspiration from hip-hop, dub, jazz, R&B, soul, funk, African, experimental, and pop. Butler has worked with Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Erik Blood, and Battles, and his most recent album with Shabazz Palaces, The Don of Diamond Dreams, released by Sub Pop in 2020, continues to showcase the fluid bounds of Butler’s approach to songwriting and world building.

JAMBALAYA JAM JUL 2021

ISHMAEL BUTLER JUN – JUL 2021

This collaboration features seven local artists: D’Vonne Lewis (drums), CD Littlefield (trumpet), Gerald Turner (bass), Thaddeus Turner (guitar), Vitamin D (DJ), Darrius Willrich (keys/vocals), and Tiffany Wilson (vocals). They unite to create and jam, reviving the improvisational and experimental nature of Seattle’s music history.

Gary Simmons: The Engine Room is organized by Shamim M. Momin, Director of Curatorial Affairs, and commissioned with the generous support of John and Shari Behnke. Media sponsorship provided by KEXP.

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) Garage Band, 2021 Sound equipment: Wood, plywood, glue, metal, sound, electric components Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) Big Block, 2021 Foam, glues, plaster, wood, casters, foil, steel chain, hardware, paint Overall: 66 1/2 x 96 x 96 in. (168.9 x 243.8 x 243.8 cm) Courtesy of the artist

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) RGB, 2021 Printed matter and glues on plywood 96 x 144 x 3 3/4 in. (243.8 x 365.8 x 9.5 cm) Courtesy of the artist

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) Blackout, 2021 Printed matter and glues on plywood 96 x 144 x 3 3/4 in. (243.8 x 365.8 x 9.5 cm) Courtesy of the artist

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) Whiteout, 2021 Printed matter and glues on plywood 96 x 144 x 3 3/4 in. (243.8 x 365.8 x 9.5 cm) Courtesy of the artist

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) Garage Band, 2021 Structure: Wood, plywood, printed matter, glue, hardware 198 x 288 x 288 in. (502.9 x 731.5 x 731.5 cm) Courtesy of the artist

All installation and performance photography: Jonathan Vanderweit.

© 2021 Henry Art Gallery. All rights reserved.

The Engine Room Residencies: Jambalaya Jam (documentation of performance, July 11, 2021, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle).

The Engine Room Residencies: Ishmael Butler (documentation of performance, June 24, 2021, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle).

Henry

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) Garage Band, 2021 Shelf: Wood, glue and hardware, Christmas lights: Vintage electric string lights, Foil box no. 1: Cardboard tape, plaster, foil, Gas tank: Metal cast, Helmet: Found object, Milk metal crate: Found object, plastic, galvanized steel, Plaster box no. 1: Cardboard, tape, plaster, Plaster box no. 2: Cardboard, tape, plaster, Plaster box no. 3: Cardboard, tape, plaster, Plaster box no. 4: Cardboard, tape, plaster, Small engine: Foam, glue, plaster, foil, String lights: Vintage electric string lights, 28 glass bulbs Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist

The Engine Room Residencies: The Black Tones (documentation of performance, May 27, 2021, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle).

H E N R YA R T. O R G

Gary Simmons (born 1964, New York, NY) B Sides, 2021 Chalk paint, cold wax, and oil on canvas Each: 144 x 120 x 2 inches (365.8 x 304.8 x 5.1 cm) Overall: 144 x 360 x 2 inches (365.8 x 914.4 x 5.1 cm) Courtesy of the artist

HENRY ART GALLERY

Gary Simmons earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York and a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. He is the recipient of the Joyce Alexander Wein Prize, Studio Museum in Harlem; USA Gund Fellowship; Penny McCall Foundation Grant; and Interarts Grant, National Endowment for the Arts.

Simmons has exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the California African American Museum, Los Angeles; Perez Art Museum, Miami; Museum of Modern Art of Fort Worth; and Kunsthaus Zürich; as well as myriad group exhibitions including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, among others. His work is included in major museum collections across the globe including those of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.