Simons, Luzia

Luzia Simons, Berlin & Stuttgart, Germany

1953 Born in Quixada, Brazil
1979 University graduation in history, Paris VIII, Vincennes
1984-86 Study of Fine Arts, Paris I, Sorbonne

Lives and works in Germany since 1986

Transit

“Advertising, television, the internet is the dominant medium in today’s society. Luzia Simons interprets this assertion by reflecting reality using unmistakeably manipulative and extremely symbolic representational techniques. She does this by allowing the different aspects of her work such as image formation, perception, creation and effect to meld together seamlessly. In this way she translates the all-pervading media presentation of reality into a process of consolidation which can only be achieved by provoking artistic transfer: namely, as an answer to trivialisation and the ongoing loss of reality generated by its unceasing simulation. The works of Luzia Simons make it possible to experience divergence. The experimental research into photographic media, the alienating penetration into the sum of the parts and the poetic density of the fragmentary project the semblance of reality of society into a temporary whole: into the reality of her artistic expression.”

Luzia Simons, 2004

Pinhole Photographs

"....Yet this “homage to Edward Muybridge” also contains a number of features characteristic of the art of Luzia Simons: memories of early silent films with their typical, underdeveloped approach to the handling of light, with which only a segment of any given scene could be illuminated, and the dramatic constrasting of light and shadow to create the effect of bodies growing forth from shadow into the light. Luzia Simons makes deliberate use of a device reminiscent of the pin-hole camera, a photographic technique whose origins lie in the archeological realm of the early years of photography, purposefully exploiting its particular conceptual and aesthetic qualities. And speaking of conceptual qualities, the first of these that comes to mind is the keyhole effect. Photography is an instrument of observation; the photographer remains a passive onlooker, concealed behind the keyhole of a primitive lens."

Peter Weiermair über Luzia Simons – 1998

Collections

Graphische Sammlung der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany
Kupferstich-Kabinett der Staatl. Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany
Regierungspräsidium des Landes Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Fonds National d Art Contemporain, Paris-Ile de France
Fonds Régional d‘Art Contemporain, Basse-Normandie, France
Graphothek der Stadtbücherei Stuttgart, Germany
Artothek Fellbach, Germany
Artothèque Caen, Grenoble, Auxerre, France
Casa de las Américas, Havanna, Cuba Centro Wifredo Lam, Havanna, Cuba
Ernst & Young, Stuttgart, Germany Deutsche Leasing AG, Bad Homburg, Germany
Museu de Arte Sacra, Belém, Brazil Coleção Joaquim Paiva, Brasilia, Brazil
Pirelli/ Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil
Sparkasse Werra-Meißner, Eschwege-Witzenhausen, Germany
Sparkasse Siegen, Germany
Kreissparkasse Euskirchen, Germany
Landesbank Baden–Württemberg, Germany
Collection University Colchester, Essex, England
Deutsche Sparkassen Verlag, Germany
Private Collections in Germany, France and Brazil.