Art@Bainbridge: Witness / Rose B. Simpson, July 23–September 11, 2022

Art@Bainbridge: Witness / Rose B. Simpson, July 23—September 11, 2022

The sculptural figures soon to occupy Art@Bainbridge invite visitors to reflect on their participation in fundamental aspects of being human‚—both as people who feel and react and as those who impact others. For the exhibition, titled Witness, the artist Rose B. Simpson has populated the space with subjects that eschew signs of individuality, allowing viewers to interact with the sculptures on a direct, emotional level to explore, for example, the effects of insomnia (DragonÔ¨Çy), tropes of gender identity (Protector I, Femme), or the impact of microaggressions (Tusked I). Traces of such experiences attach to bodies and heads, while accoutrements, posture, and heads held high confirm the dignity of subjects who accept these accruals of experience as aspects of character. Simultaneously, indices of facture assert Simpson's self-reflective, personal inspiration; the slap-slab clay construction method reveals her hand impressions and fingerprints and mandates her acceptance of the imperfections inevitable in a time-restricted process. The resulting works are thus not perfect but are‚—like all people‚—the sum of lived experiences. While the sculptures seek empathetic responses from those who witness them, they simultaneously look back at us, demanding introspection and acknowledgment of our own actions while offering, in return, catharsis.

Princeton University Art Museum Summer 2022 Magazine