Ice 11, 2018

Ink and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass
© Lorna Simpson; courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo by James Wang

Lorna Simpson emerged during the 1980s as a prominent member of a generation of photographers developing postconceptual practices. While her earliest work features striking juxtapositions of found (or staged) images and text, her practice has since expanded to incorporate drawing, painting, video, and sculpture. Despite its varying media, it is united by a common theme: the exploration of identity politics, race, and gender from her perspective. To construct Ice 11, the artist silkscreened enlarged fragments of text from magazines and found imagery of ice and smoke caused by volcanic eruptions onto fiberglass, then overpainted the ensemble with ink. While the selection and arrangement of imagery necessitated a methodical approach, the addition of ink introduced a freer way of working. To be “on ice” refers to being imprisoned, and Simpson’s abstracted canvas speaks to the disproportionate numbers of Black youth that have been imprisoned as a result of the violence of the judicial system in the United States.