Oral history interview with Laurie Simmons

Scope and Contents

An interview with Laurie Simmons conducted 2017 May 25 and September 27 by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Simmons' home and studio in Brooklyn, New York.

Scope and Contents

Simmons speaks of her childhood and adolescence in Great Neck, New York; early exposure to photography; attending Tyler School of Art and studying in Rome; renting a loft in New York with Jimmy DeSana in 1973; attending formative exhibitionsin the mid-1970s; beginning her body of photographic artwork in 1976; forming social bonds with other artists in New York; "girl parties" and openings in the 1980s with Gretchen Bender, Jennifer Bolande, Nancy Dwyer, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, and others; the trajectory of her body of work's subject matter; becoming a mother; her ambivalence toward engaging with critical theory; the cinematic urge in her early work, later realized in her work as a filmmaker; the current stage of her career; and her burgeoning interest in Internet culture. Simmons also recalls Deborah Turbeville, Sarah Charlesworth, Carroll Dunham, Mel Bochner, Dorothea Rockburne, Barry Le Va, Tara Suzuki, Rosalie Onorato, Ellen Brooks, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Laurie Simmons is a photographer, filmmaker, and artist in New York, New York. Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is a writer in Brooklyn, New York.