Rose B. Simpson

Most of Rose B. Simpson's artwork shown here are sold pieces that represent turning points in her early career. For more information about currently available pieces please contact the gallery through any of the images below.
Artist Statement: “My life-work is a seeking out of tools to use to heal the damages I have experienced as a human being of our postmodern and postcolonial era— objectification, stereotyping, and the disempowering detachment of our creative selves through the ease of modern technology. These tools are sculptural pieces of art that function in the psychological, emotional, social, cultural, spiritual, intellectual and physical realms. The intention of these tools is to cure; therefore, my hope is that they become hard-working utilitarian concepts.”

Chiaroscuro has represented Simpson since 2007 and featured her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions over the years, as her artistic vision developed and her artwork made meaningful connections to more and more viewers. Some early major turning points in her career came with her 2011 solo exhibition “Thesis” which featured new work created in her New Mexico studio after her recent RISD graduation, as well as pivotal pieces she made at RISD during her 2 year MFA program. Simpson’s 2014 solo exhibition, “Finding Center” was anchored by the recently finished 1980s El Camino lowrider “Maria” and the five “Directed” pieces that would later become the basis of her 2018 solo museum exhibition “LIT” at the Wheelwright Museum of Indian Art, Santa Fe. Since the Wheelwright show her national visibility has expanded as curators starting including Simpson in important museum shows such as “Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists” which originated out of Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2019.

Simpson has a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Art, an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in Ceramics, and an MA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Recent solo exhibitions include: Wheelwright Museum (Santa Fe, NM), the Nevada Art Museum (Reno, NV), and SCAD Museum of Art (Savannah, GA), The Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and the ICA Boston. Museum collections include the Denver Art Museum, ICA Boston, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Nevada Art Museum, Pomona College Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in NY. Simpson is also represented by Jessica Silverman Gallery in San Francisco and Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.

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