Info
Beverly Semmes is a sculptor whose work incorporates painting, drawing, film, photography, and performance. These complementary elements adhere in surprising ways, probing the paradoxes and complexities of the female body and its representation.
Semmes has been honored with many solo exhibitions, including Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the ICA Philadelphia; the MCA Chicago; and The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. Her work has recently been on display at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2022); JOAN, Los Angeles (2022); Canada Gallery, NYC (2022); Alexander McQueen, London, UK (2022) and the Museum of Art & Design, NYC (2022). Semmes’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, among others.
Semmes originally became known for her large-scale dress works in the early 1990s. Imposing and majestic, the dresses cascade down walls, conjuring wearers of power and size. The ongoing Feminist Responsibility Project (FRP) was sparked in 2002 when Semmes acquired a pile of old Penthouse magazines from a neighbor. Setting out to shield both viewer and subject, she transformed the images with rough brushstrokes of paint, overlaying the pornographic forms with pools of color in shapes suggestive of pots. Occasional revealing slips of her brush further complicate the tableaus, reminding the viewer of what they cannot quite see. Over two decades later, she continues to return to these images and the ideas they provoke. Recent works from the FRP are on view in the exhibition titled Marigold at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia through December 23, 2022.
In collaboration with fashion designer Jennifer Minniti, Semmes launched CarWash Collective in 2014. The project produces clothing constructed from fabric digitally printed with images from the FRP—garments that often reveal more skin than the censored images they display. CarWash performances have accessorized the clothing with ceramics from Semmes’ Sketchpots series—fleshy, earthy, impractical vessels that riff on and complicate the historically feminine form of the pot. During the months of May and June 2022, JOAN exhibition space in Los Angeles showcased the CarWash label with a dance performance and installation in collaboration with choreographer Emily Mast. The event was created in partnership with the Hammer Museum’s Witch Hunt curated by Connie Butler and Anne Ellegood.
Semmes received her M.F.A. in Sculpture from the Yale School of Art (1987). She also studied at the New York Studio School, the Boston Museum School, and at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture where she now serves on the Governors Board. Semmes is represented by Susan Inglett Gallery in New York and Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Los Angeles. She was born in Washington, D.C.
CONTACT
Susan Inglett Gallery
info@inglettgallery.comShoshana Wayne Gallery
mail@shoshanawayne.comBeverly Semmes Studio
beverlysemmesstudio@gmail.com→
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Info
CONTACT
Susan Inglett Gallery
info@inglettgallery.comShoshana Wayne Gallery
mail@shoshanawayne.comBeverly Semmes Studio
beverlysemmesstudio@gmail.comBeverly Semmes is a sculptor whose work incorporates painting, drawing, film, photography, and performance. These complementary elements adhere in surprising ways, probing the paradoxes and complexities of the female body and its representation.
Semmes has been honored with many solo exhibitions, including Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the ICA Philadelphia; the MCA Chicago; and The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. Her work has recently been on display at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2022); JOAN, Los Angeles (2022); Canada Gallery, NYC (2022); Alexander McQueen, London, UK (2022) and the Museum of Art & Design, NYC (2022). Semmes’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, among others.
Semmes originally became known for her large-scale dress works in the early 1990s. Imposing and majestic, the dresses cascade down walls, conjuring wearers of power and size. The ongoing Feminist Responsibility Project (FRP) was sparked in 2002 when Semmes acquired a pile of old Penthouse magazines from a neighbor. Setting out to shield both viewer and subject, she transformed the images with rough brushstrokes of paint, overlaying the pornographic forms with pools of color in shapes suggestive of pots. Occasional revealing slips of her brush further complicate the tableaus, reminding the viewer of what they cannot quite see. Over two decades later, she continues to return to these images and the ideas they provoke. Recent works from the FRP are on view in the exhibition titled Marigold at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia through December 23, 2022.
In collaboration with fashion designer Jennifer Minniti, Semmes launched CarWash Collective in 2014. The project produces clothing constructed from fabric digitally printed with images from the FRP—garments that often reveal more skin than the censored images they display. CarWash performances have accessorized the clothing with ceramics from Semmes’ Sketchpots series—fleshy, earthy, impractical vessels that riff on and complicate the historically feminine form of the pot. During the months of May and June 2022, JOAN exhibition space in Los Angeles showcased the CarWash label with a dance performance and installation in collaboration with choreographer Emily Mast. The event was created in partnership with the Hammer Museum’s Witch Hunt curated by Connie Butler and Anne Ellegood.
Semmes received her M.F.A. in Sculpture from the Yale School of Art (1987). She also studied at the New York Studio School, the Boston Museum School, and at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture where she now serves on the Governors Board. Semmes is represented by Susan Inglett Gallery in New York and Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Los Angeles. She was born in Washington, D.C.
CONTACT
Susan Inglett Gallery
info@inglettgallery.comShoshana Wayne Gallery
mail@shoshanawayne.comBeverly Semmes Studio
beverlysemmesstudio@gmail.com