Whenever I visit a museum, there is always one piece that sticks with me in the days and weeks following. Having just been to the Walker Art Center, the piece that I can't get out of my head is Us & Them (1991) by Gary Simmons.
As a writer, I love reading artist statements and well-crafted explanations of highly conceptual work. But I also love pieces like Us & Them that require no explanation, that are highly distilled, simple, and elegant. Work like this is powerful because there is nothing standing between it and the viewer.
I was so taken with Us & Them that I looked up some of Mr. Simmons' other work and discovered another piece that resonated with me. In case you can't make out the writing in the picture, the left glove says EVERFORWARD and the right glove says NEVERBACK.
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| EVERFORWARD... (1993) |
I'll be posting more pieces from the Walker soon.
