Laurie Simmons
| Laurie Simmons | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 3, 1949 Far Rockaway, Queens, New York U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Tyler School of Art |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Spouse(s) | Carroll Dunham |
| Children | Lena Dunham, Grace Dunham |
| Website | LaurieSimmons |
Laurie Simmons (born October 3, 1949) is an American artist, photographer and filmmaker. Since the mid-1970s, Simmons has staged scenes for her camera with dolls, ventriloquist dummies, objects on legs, and people, to create photographs that reference domestic scenes. She is part of The Pictures Generation, a name given to a group of artists from a 2009 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art that includes Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, and Louise Lawler.
Laurie Simmons was born in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens in New York City, the daughter of Dorothy "Dot" Simmons, a housewife, and Samuel Ira "Sam" Simmons, a dentist. She was raised in a Jewish community.
Simmons received a BFA from Tyler School of Art in 1971.
In 2006, Simmons made her first film, The Music of Regret. The film is thought to be an extension of her photographs, bringing her objects to life by involving musicians, professional puppeteers, Alvin Ailey dancers, Hollywood cinematographer Ed Lachman, and actress Meryl Streep. This three-act musical creates a narrative between iconic objects found in her photographs.
Simmons starred in a feature-length film by her daughter Lena Dunham, called Tiny Furniture, which was filmed in 2009 and was featured at the South by Southwest film festival in 2010. Simmons' character, Siri, was based loosely on herself. The film won various awards in 2010, including the Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature, the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s New Generation Awards, and the Sarasota Film Festival’s Independent Visions Award. It was nominated for Gotham Awards for best Ensemble Performance, and Breakthrough Director.
In 2008, Simmons collaborated with the designer Thakoon Panichgul to create fabrics for his Spring 2009 line. The pattern featured a variation on Simmons' series "Walking & Lying Objects" from the late eighties, which involved various objects that are animated with legs in different positions. The fabric for Thakoon's line was based on legs paired with a rose.
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