Gary Simmons: Fade to Black

Artist Gary Simmons -- who recently returned to Los Angeles, where in 1990 he received his MFA at CalArts -- references film, architecture, and American popular culture in paintings and drawings that address race, class, and memory. 

Much of Simmons work centers on his signature erasure techniques. Early on he drew in white chalk on readymade chalkboards or directly onto slate-painted walls, then smudged the images with his hands. In recent years he has adapted the process to canvas and large-scale wall works, such as Blue Field Explosions (2009), a monumental drawing in the stadium that is home to the Dallas Cowboys. In his first museum exhibition in Los Angeles, Simmons' "canvas" will be the four 440-square-foot walls in CAAM's grand lobby, where he is creating a site-specific drawing.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website