Lorna Simposon

Lorna Simpson's art is very thoughtful and creatively expresses her message.  She has racial art which shows how politically aware she is.  The messages she conveys are racially inspired, but are not at all constrained to race.  She takes on many other political aspects within society and ties them into race.  Her art is therefore never foreseeable, instead it is different each time.  The art usually seems to have a very strong message which is conveyed in a calm manner.  The artwork Simpson makes is similar to Glenn Ligon because of subject matter.  Even though race is a major part of Ligon and Simpson’s art, they go about expressing their views in a very different manner.  Ligon uses anger in some of his art whereas Simpson would use a gentle approach to convey the same meaning.  Ligon and Simpson also incorporate literature, and poetry within their artwork to strengthen the meaning.  They both use history to convey their message and give stronger worth to their meaning.  Simpson heavily focuses on women and uses history to show this also. I really like “Corridor (Mirror)” because of the meaning behind it.  I like how the picture on the left is how she would have been viewed in the past, as a slave.  On the right it is the beginning of something new but still has a lonely feel to it. Xaviera Simmons is also an African American woman who uses race in her art.  I liked her artwork titled “One Day” because it also had racial aspects within the art and reminded me of Simpsons work.