Laurie Simmons - Photography

Laurie never considered photography as an art per se, until she was exposed to New York and its photo scene. She was drawn to photography because of its vitality and its lack of attachment to art history.

When Laurie moved to New York City, the art scene was Post-modernism. This was a perfect time for Laurie to dive into photography. Up until Post-modernism, women were not given the recognition they deserved. In the later 1970’s, it was an age of very fierce feminism, anti-men and bra burning scenes. Together with other great women artist, such as Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, and Sarah Charlesworth, women were out in the forefront.

In addition, during the post modernism era photography was taking a new shape. Andy Warhol was using existing photographs mixed with painting. Many photographers were no lon

Her images deal with realism, although she constructed the scenes herself. In her Tourism series, she would pose cast of model characters that would be set to scale and perspective to the backdrop. She wanted to challenge the thought bubbles potential of reality in the situations she constructed. She would always go for accurate perspective and scale in hopes that someone might believe the scene.

Laurie Simmons seemed to be in the right place at the right time. She started to experiment with photography, pushing the boundary of what photography stood for. She worked against the traditional artist mold. Instead of documenting and capturing “real life”, she wanted to control her subject matter by staging scenes in her studio. She dealt with subject matter that was psychological, political, and subversive. She wanted images that would immerge from her subconscious, such as a surrealist, that could inform as well. Today her work, which was the foundation for both feminist and post-conceptual photography, continues to push the boundaries of what photography is meant to be.

Some topics in this essay:
Laurie Simmons, York City, Adams Post-, Sarah Charlesworth, Andy Warhol, School Art, photography art, laurie simmons, subject matter, moved york city, photography taking, constructed scenes, moved york, york city, gender boundaries,