The Reginald F. Lewis Museum in partnership with WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC is pleased to announce a solo exhibition for artist Danny Simmons. “The Journey to Everything” will feature recent works from 2021-2024. As Simmons finds himself constantly drawn to and inspired by his personal collection of African cultural objects, a curated selection of these tribal objects will also be on view–allowing visitors to experience the spiritual potency latent within the visual elements that encompass the artist’s inspiration.
The title of the exhibition and its accompanying poem represent the cultural history and symbolism in Simmons work: “through loose woven lace & hanging trails & patterned veils.” For over four decades, Simmons has created paintings, works on paper, and assemblage informed by cross-cultural history and spirituality embedded within indigenous and African cultures.
As the founder of the artistic movement Neo-African Abstract Expressionism, the artist seamlessly integrates traditional African motifs, textiles, and markings with gestural symbols reclaimed from modernism. Throughout his artistic career, Simmons has been invested in the power of art and visual culture to draw out commonalities across temporal, linguistic, and spatial boundaries.
Embodying the harmonious intersection between mediums and cultural symbolism is “A Uphill Climb” (2022) – the artist’s most monumental work on view. Spanning twelve feet, the painting melds together vibrantly painted patterns alongside fragments of Ghanaian Kente, Malian mud cloth, and other textiles. Simmons’ mixed media collage embrace not only differences across space but also speak to the many layers that comprise the artist’s own identity as well as the complex and multiplicitous history of black diaspora.
In his newer 2023 paintings “Aunties” and “Behind the Scenes,” Simmons introduces the heads of African American figures that peer out between thick fabric collage. Fragments of lace, felt circles, and Ankara wax print cloth celebrate beauty in interwoven cultures. In “Long Way Home” (2023), fabric bridges the gap between two painted canvases, holding each in stasis as a passageway between connecting cosmoses. Simmons’ other recent pieces continue exploring themes of diaspora, geography, and spirituality as a bridge between time and space.
In particular, “Nappy Headed Witches and Grandma’s Duppy” (2024) combines African fabrics, figurative abstractions, and repeated dot patterns to convey the pervasiveness of the ancestral spirit. Simmons says: “From the oldest aboriginal cultures, dots have always represented spirituality and the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Through dotting, I was able to bridge the distance between Africa and the U.S.” The mention of witches and “duppies”–a Caribbean word for ghost–as well as the biomorphic abstractions, further stress the role of art as a spiritual and cultural connector.
“Ituri Forest” (2024) and other bark cloth paintings make specific reference to the tribes of the Ituri Forest in Congo. Drawing on the artistic legacy of (primarily women) artisans, Simmons underscores the common visual language across nature, art, and geographic boundaries. “The Journey to Everything” represents the artist’s personal journey and a culmination of the ongoing journey in the migratory lives of people throughout the world. The exhibition will be on view in the DeSousa Gallery, Oct 18 – Dec 15, 2024.
Danny Simmons: The Journey to Everything is curated by James Cavello; coordinated by Terri Lee Freeman/President, Robert Parker/Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation, Visitor Experiences, and Education, Imani Hayne/Curator, Crystal Turner/Director of Communications & External Relations, Jose Alvarado/Exhibit Designer & Preparator; and with support from The Roberts Family Fund.
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Danny Simmons is a visual artist, poet, author, curator, collectors and community philanthropist. He is the co-founder and co-producer of Def Poetry Jam, and won a Tony Award for the Broadway version of the show. He is also the co-founder of the renowned Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation which has provided exhibitions, arts education and opportunities for hundreds of emerging, developing and underrepresented artists of color since 1995. His artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally and collected by major institutions and private collectors. Simmons is represented exclusively by Westwood Gallery NYC. Selected museum exhibitions include the Houston Museum of African American Culture, Ghana National Museum, Parish Gallery, Washington D.C., Noel Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, among others. His artworks are in museum and institutional collections such as the Brooklyn Museum, Montclair Art Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, The Smithsonian, US State Department (Suriname), Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and other collections.
