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Exhibitions by artist Carl Simmons are always intriguing, occasionally baffling, and depending on one’s disposition, either comical or disturbing. But what they never are is boring.
Whether he is displaying watercolors or video or photographs or a large-scale site specific installation or what his daughter (at the age of 5) once called “those silly automatic drawings,” there will be something akin to an amusement park funhouse, with mirrors that distort reality.
The titles of his artworks are often ridiculously long and charmingly redundant, seemingly formulated to shift the viewer’s usual expectations. After all, what is to be made of a photograph called “Something that happens sometimes when you listen to a Paul Clayton record in New Bedford on which Paul Clayton sings songs he collected in New Bedford?”
Simmons is a serious amateur historian concerned with preserving the past but in his artwork, he is not beholden to it and there is joy in his loose playing with the facts. The title of a watercolor painting from some years back asks “New Bedford inventor Patrick Cunningham atop of a torpedo of his own invention, which he, in a drunken political furor, accidentally launched down S. Second Street on November 1st, 1896?”
But why did Cunningham make a torpedo? What was the mysterious occurrence in front of the home of Charles W. Morgan? Was there really a floating brothel? Were there really transcendentalist baseball players? Was a major downtown fire really started by a cigar store monkey?
He provides just enough anecdotes, absurd stories and “I don’t know for sure but I’ve always heard” possibilities to make viewers even more curious.
I asked Simmons about his life, his art and his creative philosophy.
Don Wilkinson: “Where were you born and raised? What schools did you attend as a child? College? Major? Areas of study?”
Carl Simmons: “I was born in New Bedford in 1977 though when I was little we lived in Fairhaven. First we lived down Sconticut Neck (which I have really dreamy distorted memories of, like Ronald McDonald and Captain Kangaroo living in the neighborhood as well) and then down Hicks Street (now Hemlock) which was a dirt road at the time and we were surrounded by woods and a brook and the dump! My grandparents lived in Fairhaven too, and we were constantly there.
“We moved to New Bedford in about October of first grade when I started attending Ashley School. I graduated from NBHS in 1995. Then I went to Mass Art briefly before dropping out, twice! I did a total of three semesters, the last of which I was a film major.”
DW: “Did you take art classes as a child, adolescent or adult? If so, what were they? Who were your most personally significant instructors?”
CS: “I just took the classes that were in the public school system. By the end of high school, I was the only student taking the Studio Art class so the teacher, Mr. Bettencourt, just kinda made me a makeshift space in the back of the class where I was mostly left to my own devices. I recall working on large oil paintings on window shades that I found in an Ashley School dumpster, and I would pop in now and again while another class he was teaching was going on. Then, the three semesters at Mass Art. One of my uncles is a professional commercial photographer (shooting Lechmere circulars in my teens) so that was a really big influence on me growing up.”
DW: “What art forms have you practiced, be they visual, literary or performing? Do you draw, paint or sculpt? I remember seeing some of your photos and videos involving elaborate costuming and masks … can you elaborate on that?”
CS: “Yeah, drawing is probably my favorite of all the art forms – just getting lost in a stream of consciousness drawing, but I don’t get the chance or make the time to do that much these days. I spent years primarily as a singer-songwriter rather than as a visual artist. I did a show of watercolors in 2018, and my 2019 show of photographs was part of a huge burst of what I’d say is the trajectory that I am still on creatively. That came out of creating super short videos for Instagram, which became more and more elaborate.
“The installation work I’ve been doing lately is a mutation of the sets that I was making for those videos. I’ve also been making some found object sculptures usually as part of an installation, but I am starting to think about them as stand alone pieces.”
DW: “What drew you to installation art? I clearly remember your installations at the New Bedford Art Museum and in one of the greenhouses at Haskell Garden and at the last exhibition at the University Art Gallery before it was shut down by UMD. I never found your work at the Flora B. Peirce Nature Trail Head…”
CS: “I think that creating the sets for my video and photographic work that I started doing in 2018 was really the impetus for my current installation work, creating spaces for my characters to inhabit. I guess that’s when I started thinking about showing work in a gallery or a museum. I gravitated to creating some of those spaces. Haha … I’ll send you a map of the Flora B. Peirce location. I’m loving how it changes with the seasons.”
DW: “Do you have any particular ‘dream spots’ for installations locally or beyond?”
CS: “Hmmm … that’s a good one. I mean, for what I do and for visibility and accessibility, the corner windows of the Star Store at Union and Purchase Streets have been a dream spot for sure. Working outside at the Flora B. Peirce Nature Trail was incredible too; digging my hands into that “Freetown Muck’ (as the soil there is classified) — that and the Haskell greenhouse were so fantastic because I could use really unconventional materials, like dirt, water, dead bugs and mold freely. Artist Mark Dion and I have been talking for years about recreating a replica of Daniel Ricketson’s Brooklawn shanty. That would be a dream come true for sure. Because of my love for local history, the Whaling Museum would be an incredible experience, I’m sure.”
DW: “Where do you get the bulk of the diverse elements for your installations?”
CS: “I definitely get the bulk of my stuff from estate sales. That is really where I can find the detritus of life that really inspires me … most of what is considered ‘junk.’ So it’s not the kind of stuff that would get hauled out for a yard sale. So I’ve stopped chasing yard sale signs. I think about it like this: the stuff at yard sales is the stuff people want out of their lives. The stuff at estate sales is the stuff they kept until they died or that they never thought anyone would ever want. That’s usually the stuff I’m after.”
DW: “Given your druthers, and if money were not an issue, what items would you like to include in an installation?”
CS: “Ah, yup: the economics of making art! I’ve always been a fan of limitations, and because I make so little money off my work – especially maximalist room-sized found object installations – and because I am super frugal and I definitely find satisfaction in making do with what I have or or can find for cheap or for free…”
“I have a phrase I think of a lot: ‘I don’t wanna just throw money at it’ to solve a problem or achieve a certain effect. That being said, in my latest Star Store window installation, I have several record players set up to spin objects but they often just stop spinning. I’d love to not have that problem and have reliable equipment to achieve what I want. And although the thrill is in the hunt for sure, I wouldn’t mind now and again to get that one or two objects from eBay that would really take a piece where I want it to go. I mean … bigger dreams? I’d absolutely get into animatronic forms if money were not an issue. Ooh … and be able to buy old weathered outbuildings.”
DW: “How much does pop culture (television, film, comics, Halloween and Christmas decorations, toys, advertising and the like) impact your work?”
CS: “Oh, the pop culture of my childhood, and kind of before it, is such a huge influence on my work. It’s all wrapped up in the dreamlike distortion of childhood perception. Movies have always been a super inspiration for me — particularly ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s stuff. My last Star Store window really leaned into my love of film noir, which was really a nice break from focusing primarily on local history.”
DW: “Are you interested in set design, urban decay and graffiti? Are you influenced by other installation artists … Christo? Damien Hirst? Judy Chicago? Marcel Broodthaers?”
CS: “Yes to all of those. Maybe set ‘dressing’ in particular, the minutia stuff … and yeah, ‘preservation by neglect’ is something that interests me. I’m not particularly into the aesthetic of what one might think of as graffiti but, though I don’t partake, I am very interested in the illegal defacing of municipal (etc.) property as an act of civil disobedience.”
Photos were taken or provided by Don Wilkinson, Pete Duval and Carl Simmons. Click for individual credits.
DW: “I suspect very little in your work is by happenstance hence my thought that you likely moved a bright green twist tie six times before finding the perfect location in an installation, much like a painter determining where a brushstroke will be made or a filmmaker doing multiple takes. Does that resonate for you?”
CS: “Ha, yeah it does for sure. The relationship of objects to one another holds a lot of meaning to me. As my body of work grows and I get more experience doing this kind of stuff, I think I’m less obsessive about the green twist tie, and having learned, it all kinda works, as long as the green twist tie is in the general area. This speaks to the idea of musicality that I draw from. As long as I have the object and get to the intuitive state of improvisation, there are so many places that a green twist tie can go and do what I want it to do”
DW: “I know you are an avid student of local history and a debunker of myth, responding to the “I don’t know if it’s true but I’ve always heard…” speculators and storytellers. How does that sensibility feed your work?
CS: “I feel like my relationship with local history is kind of mercurial. I was definitely the ‘New Bedford History Police’ for a while there but I think that has been changing over the years. I’ve learned to appreciate the mutations and myths a bit more. I do still think the truth or the closest thing we can get to uncovering it is the absolutely most fascinating thing because that’s where the real poetry is.
But I’ve stopped banging my head against the wall of trying to correct every misnomer and such out there. I guess it’s just human nature to streamline and distort our histories and I stopped taking it personally. Honestly, I kind of revel in the absurdity of (fairly harmless) local history misinformation. Coincidentally, I took a break and looked at Facebook and someone posted a photo of the east side of Purchase Street, north of William Street, with the W.T. Grant department store in it and the poster captioned it “Downtown New Bedford – The Star Store” and I was like ‘YESSSSS! Haha!’”
What a perfect place to wrap it up!
Simmons’ latest installation “Star Store Video” is on display at the real Star Store until Aug. 9, possibly later.
Simmons will also be participating in an “ambrosia/salad,” a group exhibition at the Allen C. Haskell Public Gardens, 787 Shawmut Ave., New Bedford from Aug. 8 to Sept. 19.
There may be an old doghouse and a “found” mattress involved.
Don Wilkinson has been writing art reviews, artist profiles and cultural commentary on the South Coast for over a decade. He has been published in local newspapers and regional art magazines. He is a graduate of the Swain School of Design and the CVPA at UMass Dartmouth. Email him at dwilkinson@newbedfordlight.org.
Brilliant Artist!
Carl is a New Bedford treasure.
His StarStore window reeks of joy!
Thank you Don for this.
I find this artist’s work fascinating & always admire the Star Store window installations…..so many wonderful details! Thank you for this interview Don!