Whitney Biennial 2019
May 17–Oct 27, 2019
Diane Simpson
71
Floor 1
Born 1935 in Joliet, IL
Lives in Wilmette, IL
Inspired by techniques of garment construction and the history of design, Diane Simpson’s sculptures distill wide- ranging sources—from Samurai armor to Amish bonnets and Art Deco architecture—into abstract arrangements of interlocking planes. The works in the Biennial reflect Simpson’s long-standing interest in window displays as framing devices for her work.
Since the 1970s, Simpson’s sculptures have originated as drawings, which she creates on graph paper using axonometric projection. This method of depicting three-dimensional objects on a flat surface is common in architecture and engineering, as well as in Chinese and Japanese art. She translates her drawings into three dimensions by joining together support material and then adds decorative patterning to the surfaces by hand—often in pencil or by collaging fabric onto the work. These details of ornamentation are never arbitrary but directly relate to each sculpture’s shape and structure.
In 2014 Simpson began experimenting with materials in a series of Peplum sculptures, referencing a type of embellishment encircling the waist of a woman’s garment. As she has explained, “The structure of clothing forms has continuously informed my work, serving as a vehicle for exploring their functional and sociological roles and the influence of the design and architecture of various cultures and periods in history.”
Lambrequin and Peplum, 2017
Diane Simpson, Lambrequin and Peplum, 2017. Painted fiberboard crayon on polyester, and copper tacks, 109 × 50 × 31 in. (276.9 × 127 × 78.7 cm). Image courtesy the artist; Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago; JTT, New York; and Herald Street, London. Photograph by Tom Van Eynde
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Diane Simpson
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Diane Simpson: The structure of clothing forms has continuously informed my work, but along with that, I've been very influenced by the design and architecture of various cultures and periods in history.
Narrator: Diane Simpson.
Diane Simpson: I'm interested in the subject of the body without the body.
When I look at architecture, I isolate a section of a building like a chimney or a window, a roof shape.
In the same way, I concentrate on a particular section or detail of clothing. A turn of a collar, a shape of the sleeve. I'm interested in the seamless shifting from body to architectural form in the melding of the wearable with this structurally unwearable.
I concentrate on a particular section of the body rather than the whole body.
Narrator: In some of the works on view here, Simpson was inspired by peplum, a cinch-waist, flared style that became popular in 1940s dresses.
Diane Simpson: With the peplum, I was just thinking about the area around the waist―I like the idea that it's so unnecessary and it's just this little added flounce.