Painter

Gary Simmons

Gary Simmons draws on chalkboard-like surfaces, then smears or erases marks to blur images and examine memory, education, race, and cultural history.

Gary Simmons quick facts

Simmons uses chalkboard-like painted grounds, drawing, smearing, and erasure to explore cartoons, race, memory, and popular culture through blurred images.

Gary Simmons quick facts
Full name	Gary Simmons
Born	April 14, 1964 · New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	—
Nationality	American
Movements	Conceptual art and Minimalism (influences)
Paint types	Chalkboard paint (ground) · Acrylic paint
Other media	Pastel · charcoal · installation art · sculpture
Other materials	—
Painting surfaces	Painting board · Walls · Paper · Canvas · Wood panels
Painting methods	Draws on prepared dark panels, then rubs and partially erases unfixed marks by hand to create blurred, ghostlike images
Common subjects	Cartoons, race, memory, violence, popular culture, and partially erased imagery
Notable works	Ghoster · Hey, Hey, Hey... · boom

Sources: MoMA: boom, Whitney: Hey, Hey, Hey..., Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Rubell Museum, and Whitney Museum of American Art.

Paint types used by Gary Simmons

MoMA records blackboard paint as the ground for Simmons’s layered white pigment and pastel, distinguishing the coating from his drawn marks on it.

Chalkboard paint

In MoMA’s record for boom, blackboard paint is the panel’s primer. Simmons draws over that surface with white pigment and pastel, using erasure and reworking to make the image appear unstable. Those marks are not chalkboard paint; the coating is the prepared ground beneath them.

Sources: MoMA: boom.; Whitney: Hey, Hey, Hey...; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth: Gary Simmons

Painting surfaces used by Gary Simmons

Collection entries identify painting board and walls among Gary Simmons’s supports, with the examples below grounding each material in documented works.

Painting Board

Simmons uses rigid painting board for works such as boom, where erased and drawn imagery is worked into a prepared blackboard-painted surface. The panel supports repeated changes to the image and differs from the walls used in his installations. Museum records document this board construction directly.
Walls

Simmons paints directly on walls for selected installations, extending his chalkboard imagery onto architectural surfaces. The built wall becomes part of the presentation and cannot be treated as a portable panel. Museum and exhibition records distinguish these site-specific works from his framed drawings and paintings.
Paper

Simmons’s works on paper include drawings and preparatory studies. The sheet is a portable support for graphite, chalk, and related marks, distinct from the blackboard-painted panels and wall installations. Museum collections document paper in his broader practice. Those marks document the sheet without implying one medium for all works.
Canvas

Simmons’s paintings also use canvas in selected works, documented by museum collections. This stretched textile support differs from the blackboard-painted panel in boom and from walls used for installations. The specific collection records establish canvas as one surface among several.
Wood

Wood panels support some of Simmons’s painted works and installations. The rigid support differs from canvas and paper and can carry a prepared blackboard surface or other imagery. Museum and exhibition records document these examples without assuming all his works use wood.

Sources: MoMA: boom, Whitney: Hey, Hey, Hey..., Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Rubell Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art.

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