b. 1968, Chicago, IL
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
EDUCATION
1990 BA in Art and Philosophy, Earlham College, Richmond IN
SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2014 Simone Leigh, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, organized by Stuart Horodner
Atlanta, GA
Simone Leigh and Wolfgang Paalen,
Gallery Wendi Norris,
San Francisco, CA
2013
I Always Face You Even When It Seems Otherwise,
Tiwani Contemporary
London,
UK
organized by Bisi Silva
with catalog
2012
What's Her Face,
Gavlak Gallery,
West Palm Beach, FL
You Don’t Know Where Her Mouth Has Been, curated by Rashida Bumbray
The
Kitchen, New York, NY
jam packed and jelly tight
Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
2009
The Gods Must Be Crazy, for In Practice, SculptureCenter, Queens, NY
Queen Bee, G Fine Art Project Room, Washington, D.C.
2008
Scratching the Surface, Vol 1
L'appartement 22, Rabat, Morocco
organized by
Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya Kabwe
if you wan fo' lick old woman pot, you scratch him back (Jamaican proverb),
Rush
Arts Gallery Project Space, New York, NY
2005 Momenta Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014
Dak'art 2014: The 11th Biennial of Contemporary African Art, organized by Elise
Atangana, Abdelkader Damani and Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi
Black in the Abstract, Part 2: Hard Edges/Soft Curves,
Contemporary Art Museum
Houston, organized by Valerie Cassel Oliver
2013
Present Tense Future Perfect, Carol Jazzar Contemporary, Miami, FL, organized by
Teka Selman
Double Fortune, Double Trouble: Art for Twins among the Yoruba,
Fowler Museum
at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, organized by Marla Berns and Henry Drewal
approximately infinite universe,
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla,
CA, organized by Jill Dawsey
Radical
Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art
Contemporary Art Museum in
Houston, Houston, TX, Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, NY and The Walker Art Center,
organized by Valerie Cassel Oliver, with catalog
FUN HOUSE
Richard Gray Gallery, New York, NY
March On!
Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, NY, organized by Dexter
Wimberly
2012
Cleopatra's Family Jewels
Family Business, New York, NY
Pose/Re-Pose: Figurative Works Then and Now, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, |
Georgia, organized by Isolde Brielmaier and Melissa Messina
The Whitney Biennial 2012, as a part of Alica Hall Moran and Jason Moran's BLEED,
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Transforming Function, Building 110, Governor's Island, organized by the Lower
Manhattan Cultural Council
Unevenness, The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe, organized by
Raphael Chikukwa
In the Making, Roberts and Tilton, Los Angeles, CA
Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art,
Contemporary Art
Museum in Houston, Houston, TX, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY and The Walker
Art Center, organized by Valerie Cassel Oliver, with catalog
2011
The Bearden Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Evidence of Accumulation, Artist-In-Residence program exhibition, The Studio
Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, organized by Naomi Beckwith,
Weltraum/Space – Exploration and Exploitation, KUNSTHALLE wein, Vienna, Austria,
organized by Catherine Hug
The February Show, Ogilvy and Mather, New York, NY organized by Jun Lee and
Heather Hart
2010
Else, Jack Tilton Gallery, organized by Derrick Adams and Jack Tilton
Divine Horsemen, with Chitra Ganesh, Mason Gross Galleries, Rutgers University,
New Brunswick, NJ, organized by Latoya Ruby Frazier
Digression, Hendershot
Gallery, organized by Jessica Shaefer
Comedy and Tragedy, Marvelli Gallery, organized by David Hunt
Bunny Redux, The
Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA, organized by Eric Shiner
Hair Tactics, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, organized by Rocio
Aranda, Alvarado
vessel, Brennan Gallery, Jersey City, NJ,organized by Kenya
(Robinson)
The Brucennial, Recess Space, NY
2009
30 seconds off an inch, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, organized by
Naomi Beckwith
Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art, Real Art Ways, Hartford,
CT, organized by Kristina Newman-Scott and Yona Backer (with catalog)
Herd Thinner, Charest-Weinberg Gallery, Miami, FL
The Pleasure of Hating, Lisa Cooley Gallery, New York NY, organized by David
Hunt
AIM 29, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY, organized by Micaela Giovannotti (with
catalog)
Locus, MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA organized by Lauren Wolk
Pulse, Taller Boricua, New York NY, organized by organized by Fernando Salicrup
and Christine Licata
2008
The Future As Disruption, The Kitchen, New York NY, organized by Rashida Bumbray
and Matthew
Lyons
Intransit, Moti Hasson Gallery, organized by Omar Lopez-Chadoud
The B-Sides, ALIRA a Center for Contemporary Art, organized by Edwin
Ramoran
Archeologies of Wonder, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, organized by Kristina
Newman-Scott
Ethnographies of the Future Remixed, Tides Foundation, New York, NY, organized
by Sara Reisman
Scratching The Surface VOL 1, L’appartement22, Rabat, Morocco and AVA
Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, organized by Gabi Ngcobo and Mwenya
Kabwe
Ethnographies of the Future, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY organized by Sara
Reisman
2007
Material Culture, Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, Bronx, NY, organized by Juanita
Lonzos
Red Badge of Courage, Newark Council for the Arts, Newark, NY,
organized by Omar Lopez-Chahoud
Done by the Forces of Nature, City of College of New York, New York, NY
organized by Roberto Visani
Visual Jury, Fine Art Work Center, Provincetown,
MA
Defensive Mechanisms (part of INTERSECTIONS) Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art
Center,
New York, NY organized by Martin Dust
2006
Wild Girls, EXIT ART, organized by Jodi Hanel, Sarah Ryhanen, and Juana
Gallo.
Henry Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY
Brooklyn Divas, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Figures of Thinking: Convergences in Contemporary Cultures, organized by Vicky
Clark and Sandhini Poddar, various venues including The Chicago Cultural Center,
Chicago, IL, Richard E. Peeler Art Center, De Pauw University, Greencastle, IN
Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA,
The Mc
Dounough Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH, Tufts University Gallery, Medford MA
and the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, Univeristy of Richmond, Richmond,
VA, (with catalog)
2005
“From the Studio: Wish You Were Here…”, Co-dependent: Artists, Artist/Curators, &
Curators Select Artists @ The Living Room, Miami, FL, organized by Franklin
Sirmans
Remnants and Relics: Reinterpretations in African American Art, Jamaica Center
for Arts and Learning, Queens, NY, organized by Heng-Gil Han (with catalog)
Divine, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia
University, New York, NY, organized by Bruce W. Ferguson and Milena
Honigsberg
James E Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore,
MD)
Watershed Kiln Gods, Gallery 1448, Baltimore, MD) (with catalog)
2004
Art Downtown: Connecting Collections, The Deutsche Bank, New York, NY
Steuben
Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore MD
2003
Skylight gallery, Bedford Styvesant Restoration Corporation, Brooklyn, NY
The
Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY
2002 The Center for African American Art and NOEL gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2001 Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, organized by Lea K. Green
2000
SMIRK, Women, Art and Humor, Firehouse Gallery, Hempstead, NY, organized by
Debra Wacks
(with catalog)
AWARDS/RESIDENCIES/INTERNSHIPS/GRANTS
2013 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award
2012 Creative Capital Grantee
The International Art Programme, Center For Contemporary Art Lagos, Nigeria
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Michael Richards award for Visual Arts
(formerly the President's Award)
2011
Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painters and Sculptors
The Worth Residency in Bovina, NY
10-11
The Studio Museum in Harlem Artist-in-Residence Program
2009
New York Foundation of the Arts fellowship in Sculpture
Art Matters Foundation Grant
Bronx Museum AIM program
08-09 Artist in Residence, Hunter College
07-08
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace grant
Visiting Artist,School of Visual Arts Computer Art MFA program
2007 Astraea Foundation Visual Arts grant
2006 Artist In Residence, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
2005 Wheeler Foundation grant
2004 Artist in Residence, Greenwich House Pottery, New York, NY
2001 Kiln God fellowship, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Watershed, ME
2000 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
SELECTED BIOGRAPHY
2012 "“Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art", Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Artforum, December, Sally Frater
"Chitra Ganesh, Simone Leigh", Tilton gallery, Modern Painters, September, Nova Benway
"Simone Leigh", Goings On About Town: Art, The New Yorker, Februray 27th
"The Surrealist Art of Simone Leigh", EBONY Magazine, March 5, Una-Kariim A. Cross
"Simone Leigh: Mouthing Off", artnet, Elisabeth Kley, January 27
"Simone Leigh and the Fruits of Her Labor", Art21, Nicole Caruth, January 20
"You Don't Know Where Her Mouth Has Been", TimeOut, February 23-March 7
"You Don't Know Where Her Mouth Has Been", Highsnobette, Diane McClure, February 1
"The Whitney Biennial Catalog", Whitney Museum of American Art
2011 "A Griot for A Global Village", The New York Times, Holland Cotter, December 8
"Evidence of Accumulation", Goings On About Town: Art, The New Yorker, September 12
"Uptown, Turning Over a New Motif", The Wall Street Journal, July 12, by Pia Catton
2010 "Else", Art in Review, The New York Times, Holland Cotter, September 24
2009 Studio Visit, STUDIO Magazine: The Studio Museum of Harlem, Uri McMillan, Fall
2008 "Introducing Simone Leigh", Modern Painters, Quinn Latimer, November
Art Review, “Collective Strangeness in Hartford” The New York Times, Benjamin Gennochio, December 21
Art in Review, “The Future As Disruption”, The New York Times, Karen Roxenberg, August 1
“The Future As Disruption”, critic’s picks, ARTFORUM.com, Colby Chamberlain, July
“New York Summer Shows: Artinfo.com, Claire Barliant, July
“Futures Exchange”, Rhizome, Ed Halter, July 7
SUPERNATURE, Small Axe, A Journal of Carribean Cultural Criticism, Issue 28, February
2007 The Artist’s Kitchen, Recycled and Curated, The New York Times, Penelope Green, June 14
2006 SIMONE LEIGH, REBEL SOUL, TRACE Magazine, Issue #66, Yolanda Sangweni, October
The Thinkers, ANGLE, A Journal of Arts and Culture, Douglas Max Utter, Issue 29
Wild Girls, Flavorpill, issue 327, September 12
Women Gone Wild, The Next Generation of Provocative Female Artists, New York Blade, Rafael
Risemberg, July 31
They Called Her Hottentot: The Art, Science and Fiction of Sarah Baartman, anthology edited by Deborah Willis-Kennedy and Carla Williams, February
2005 “Goings On About Town: Art,” The New Yorker, January 17
“Dateline Brooklyn” ARTnet Magazine, Stephen Maine
“In the Realm of the senses: Lisa DiLillo and Simone Leigh,” Flavorpill, issue 241, January 6
2004 “Brooklyn Artist Who Prefers To Show Others’ Work” The New York Times, Penelope Green,
February, 8
2001 “Freedom of Exclusion: The Rise of the Female Spirit in Contemporary Art” L.P Streifeld, NYArts
Magazine, December
“Some Laughing Matters, Women’s Art exhibit: More than funny, girl” Steve Parks, Newsday, March
“Bawdy Burlesque, Raucous Ribaldry”, NYArts Magazine, Deborah Frizzell, April
LECTURES/SYMPOSIA/SCREENINGS
2014 Public Lecture: San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco
2013
Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Columbia University, New York NY
Performa Institue
"GET READY FOR THE MARVELOUS: BLACK SURREALISM IN DAKAR, FORT-DE-FRANCE,
HAVANA, JOHANNESBURG, NEW YORK CITY, PARIS, PORT-AU-PRINCE, 1932-2013"
Conference
NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human
Development organized by Adrienne Edwards
2012
Ancient to Future: Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts and Simone Leigh, a conversation with
Claire Barliant, LIVE at the NYPL, New York Public Library
Radical Freedom: Feminist Collaborations and Hybrid Aesthetics, Simone Leigh and
Chitra Ganesh, Center for The Humanities, CUNY Graduate Center
BREAKDOWN, artist talk and video screening, with Liz Magic Laser, Brooklyn
Museum
Rhode Island School of Design, Visting Artist Lecture, Providence, RI
New York University, Visiting Artist Lecture, New York, NY
2011
Kessler conversations: In Memory of Monique Wittig, Simone Leigh and
Chitra
Ganesh, CLAGS, November 28, 2011, moderated by Dean Daderko,
CUNY
Graduate Center
Caribbean Cultural Production, The Caribbean Epistemologies Symposium,
March
29, 2011, Center for the Humanities, CUNY Graduate Center
Parsons School of the Arts, Visiting Artist Lecture organized by Coco Fusco
2010 Rutger's University, Visiting Artist Lecture, Rutgers, New Jersey
2007
Fine Art Work Center, Visiting Artist Lecture, Provincetown, Mass
Mining History, Contemporary Art, The African American Museum in Philadelphia
and the Tyler School of Art, moderated by Sophie Sanders
2005
Unparalleled salon, with Carrie Yamaoka, curated by Martha Southgate,
Stacey
D’Erasmo and Bliss Broyard,
2001
Symposium for the creation of the David Driskell Center on Africa and The
Americas, panel on the Art of the African Diaspora, University of Maryland, College
Park, moderated by Carla Peterson
Women’s Caucus for Art Conference, Chicago, Il, “Body Language: Image and
Art”, moderated
by Marianne Woods
2000
“Slave Markets, Lynched Bodies and Hottentot Vessels: The Black Female Body in
19th. and 20th Century Art”, Feminist Art and Art History
Conference, Barnard College, New York, NY, moderated by Adrienne Childs
