Artist Profile: Chloë Simmons

Chloë Simmons is an interdisciplinary artist who works in a variety of media from video to sculpture, textiles, and installation. Born in St. Louis MO, she received her BFA in Printmaking from Webster University in 2019. She currently resides in Madison, where she received her MFA in 4D from the UW-Madison. Employing themes of delusion, fantasy, death, memory, consciousness and desire, her current practice navigates what it feels like to be alive right now; questioning the impact of images; and digital technologies on our relationships with ourselves as well as others.

1) Who (or what) has most influenced your artistic process so far in 2023?

This year I’ve been really interested in this documentary/art film that I have never seen titled “Heartbeat in the Brain.” It’s a film from 1970 in which the artist Amanda Feilding trepans herself on camera. She also has a relationship with a pigeon. I can’t find the full film anywhere, but the short clips that I have found are really exciting. I’m personally interested in consciousness and memory and the way that digital technologies impact our perception of the world around us. Amanda Feilding explores consciousness in a really extreme way via the trepaning. To me, this act is so fearless and honest. She’s genuinely curious and takes that curiosity to its most logical end—which is quite horrific. This film inspired a new video I just completed titled Hole in the RAM.

2) Describe your dream exhibition.

I would really like to have an exhibition that would show my physical work in one room, then have another room dedicated to screening a video work. I also think it would be really exciting to open my own space one day in some kind of large complex. I would hold typical art shows, plus maybe have rooms where I can screen films that change weekly or monthly. Then, every year, we could do some kind of film/music/art festival as well.

3) Is there a specific type of art you have not created yet, but are interested in exploring?

I’ve worked in a lot of mediums and still do. So there’s not much I haven’t explored, but lately, I really would like to get back to drawing. Drawing is really daunting. You just have this white sheet of paper that you can literally put anything on. Once you do, there’s really no going back. Sure you can erase—but the paper holds the memory of every mark in some way. As a child I drew constantly, but as an adult I find it really difficult. I don’t even sketch my ideas; I write instead.

4) Share 2-3 books currently in your "to be read" pile.

This summer I am reading “Tender Buttons” by Gertrude Stein. And I just started reading “Think, Write, Speak…” by Vladimir Nabokov.