Lorna Simpson

“He decides to adopt the role of voyeur and look out in order to go unnoticed and noticed at the same time.” (Lorna Simpson Video Part I) Although Lorna Simpson has been classified as a photographer, her art more appropriately approaches painting, sculpture, and even film, in its relation to its audience. The surfaces that she reproduces her photos on stray away from the traditional glossy material that tend to reflect light, and rather on surfaces that seem to absorb it, such as felt. Through her work she addresses themes of cultural, political, and social significance; giving meaning and telling a narrative through her art, rather than having it be "just a picture."

Lorna Simpson has a very unique way of showing and narrating her works, and understandably follows the post conceptual artistic style. An ideal work day for her consists of shooting and printing photos in order to show them off in a gallery. The work that was focused on in the video rested on the issues of sexual or private activities in public places, such as work buildings, cars, parks, and public bathrooms. While at first these works look like a standard photograph, she engages the viewer past the surface and into the deeper meaning of her work. Lorna's work is not just about the picture, it is about the meaning, story, and narrative behind it -- the voyeurism and to be unnoticed, yet noticed at the same time. In one work of hers she grids together a picture of a work building with two clocks on it. The clocks represent the time for a man and a woman to meet for sex, while the buildings provide the public location of that meeting. The work portrayed is about descriptions of a beautiful city scape or landscape, and inscribing something else into it.

Lorna's artwork does not come automatically to the viewer; however, it requires time and thought to acquire it's actual meaning. In a sense, you must work your way into the work and spend time looking at every detail and contrast that the