This Brooklyn artist makes photo-collages of women inspired by amateur porn

By Jessica Robinson

Among the plethora of hot new galleries in the Lower East Side — perhaps attracted by the neighborhood’s decreased rents — is 56 Henry Street, a tiny ground floor space where the exhibitions are visible from the street 24 hours a day. And if you happen to pass by before January 15, you can treat yourself to “Color Pictures/Deep Photos,” a grouping of sexy photo-collages of women created by the renowned Brooklyn-based photographer-artist-filmmaker Laurie Simmons.

Set in deep shadow box frames, these women — some nude, some not, some masturbating — are wittily paired with shiny, toy-like cut-outs of domestic objects such as phallic tubes of gleaming red and pink lipsticks, a pink bath-tub and matching pink sink, tables with pink-shaded lamps, and so on.

This pairing of nude women with three-dimensional cut-out objects creates a fantastical world that fully immerses viewers into the fantasy.

“Color Pictures/Deep Photos” is a series reconfigured from work that dates back to 2007. Those early images were of nude women downloaded from online amateur porn sites that Simmons then photographed, cut-out, and imbued with life by placing them in dollhouse-like domestic interiors.

The idea was to show them as a large-format series. But the work was never officially shown.

“I put seven of them at an art fair and I felt like they confused people, maybe because of the sexual content,” she says. “I felt resistance to the idea of naked women. No gallery was interested in showing them.”

This year, after a discussion with 56 Henry Street gallery owner Ellie Rines, Simmons, decided to breathe new life into the old work.

“It always inspires me how willing she is to revisit her past work and build upon it,” says art historian William J. Simmons (no relation). “Her penchant for experimentation is especially apparent in her show at 56 Henry.”

Unlike the original doll-like images, many of the new photos are actually of models that Simmons has photographed and placed in dramatically-lit settings. And the furniture and objects of yesteryear have become three-dimensional, an effect achieved by pouring layer after layer of clear resin onto the surface of the pictures to create a seductive, voyeuristic and luxurious sheen, as if looking through glass.

In one picture, a naked woman bathed in deep blue light sits on a blue sofa, legs spread wide as she masturbates. Within the resin, Simmons added woven pillows to ornament the sofa, and a three-dimensional end table filled with tiny books.

If you’re looking for some kind of story here, don’t. “These pictures are not about a narrative,” says Simmons. “They are obtuse and obscure.”

And fun. Take “Walt Disney and the Lipstick Forest.” Here, in a black and white photo, Disney sits in the background while a semi-naked woman floats above a sea of luscious pink and red lipsticks.

Photo courtesy Thomas Mueller

“Seeing him through this kind of feminine jungle just really appealed to me. He was a very powerful figure for me,” she says, referring to her childhood. “From him came all these beautiful fairy tales, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ and then he had a TV show where he felt like my grandfather. He had both a soothing and powerful presence.”

In another picture, a woman with very large, round buttocks perches naked on a pink sofa with her back to the camera. This time, within the resin, Simmons has placed a small white table with a pink lamp.

Photo courtesy Thomas Mueller

And in yet another, Simmons gives a grouping of young naked models coquettish poses, as if in a brothel. Some are seductively perched on chairs, others sit on a shiny red, mirrored floor.

There are also images of women who were photographed naked, with string bikinis drawn onto their bodies. (The fashion world might take note of Simmons’ sartorial esthetic.)

“Working with women, even female dolls, is somehow easier for me,” she confides. In fact, she even scrapped a version of “Color Pictures/Deep Photos” that featured male porn stars. “That was also free porn that you could download but I couldn’t make them work. The pictures with the naked women felt more innocent.”

But why this work now? Has the artworld changed its attitude toward nudity? Is this some kind of commentary on the ubiquity of porn in 2023? “There’s a different relationship to nudity as a result of Instagram and Twitter and TikTok,” says Simmons. “I don’t think there’s the shock value attached to it as there might have been fifteen years ago.”

Shocking or not, above all “Color Pictures/Deep Photos” is humorous. Even Jackson Pollock dripping paint over a live model clad in stockings and sprawled out on the canvas merits a chuckle.

Photo courtesy Thomas Mueller

“Color Pictures/Deep Photos” will be on display at 56 Henry Street gallery through January 15.