Artist a Day Challenge No. 9: Lorna Simpson

This series of collages by Lorna Simpson of embellished photographs and cutouts from Ebony magazine just beg for a story to be told.

These traditional photos with their bold swaths of color that form these beautiful plumes of smoldering smoke look like some type of artistic Rorshach test.  Simpson purposefully wants us to draw our own conclusions from her work and and in doing so this reveals more about the viewer. When I look at these works I’m reminded of something important.  Judge on the surface at your own peril, because behind every facade there’s a deeper story waiting to reveal itself.