on the wall: Diane Simpson

7 June - 2 August 2014

It’s a sort of cubism — the unpacking of forgotten wardrobes, the fluffing of timeworn dimensions. Simpson revives iconic dress from yore, and pushes the garb through a prism of geometric abstraction into our ever-present nowadays. – Excerpt from Jason Foumberg’s 2013 catalogue essay “The Iconography of Quirk” for the exhibition Diane Simpson at Corbett vs. Dempsey.

 

Diane Simpson (b. 1935 in Joliet, IL, lives and works in Chicago, IL) received an MFA in 1978 and a BFA in 1971 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Most recently she had solo exhibitions at Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago, IL and at JTT, New York, NY. In 2010, a thirty-year retrospective exhibition of her sculpture and drawings was held at the Chicago Cultural Center. An 88 page catalog was produced in conjunction with this exhibit. Other past solo exhibitions include Phyllis Kind Galleries, Chicago, IL and New York, NY; Dart Gallery, Chicago, IL; Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI; and I Space Gallery, Chicago, IL.  Simpson’s work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL;and the Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL, among others.  Simpson’s grants and awards include an Arts Midwest/NEA Regional Fellowship; an Illinois Arts Council IAS-Project Grant; five Illinois Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship awards, and the Walter M. Campana and E. Garrison Prizes from the Art Institute of Chicago’s “Chicago and Vicinity” exhibitions. She has been nominated for awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundations. Diane Simpson is represented by Corbett vs Dempsey in Chicago and JTT in New York.

 

Generously funded in part by a grant from the Wicker Park Bucktown SSA #33, the on the wall series is a rotation of projects on the gallery’s 10 x 25 foot wall. It is viewable from Division Street 7 days a week, 365 days a year, through floor to ceiling windows.