Charles Simonds (American, )

Timeline

1963–1967
Attends The University of California, Berkeley. Studies with James Melchert and Harold Paris
1967
Receives Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
1967–1969
Attends Rutgers University graduate school. Receives Master of Fine Arts degree.
1969–1971
Teaches Sculpture and Art History at Newark State College. Refurbishes a loft at 131 Chrystie Street with Gordon Matta-Clark and Harriet Korman.
1974
Film of Dwellings by Rudy Burkhardt shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Excavated and Inhabited Railroad Tunnel Remains constructed at Artpark, Lewiston, New York.
1976
Invited for “Projects” series at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where he creates Picaresque Landscape.
1977
Goes to Berlin with DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst). Produces Circles and Towers Growing series.
1981
Constructs permanent installations of dwellings at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Kunsthaus Zürich, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
1986
Invited to be a Fellow of Art at the American Academy in Rome.
1988
Travels to Seoul to construct Refuge in Olympic Park.
1995
Works with patients at Centre d’étude de l’expression, Clinique des maladies mentales et de l’encéphale, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, Paris on communal sculpture.
1996
Lectures at Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne to therapists on work with patients the previous year.
1997
Works on transforming grotto for Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.
view more

Exhibitions

2012
Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery 1969-1989. The New Museum, New York
2012
Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974. Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Haus der Kunst Munich
2012
Wish You Were Here: The Buffalo Avant-garde in the 1970's. Albright- Knox Art Gallery Buffalo
2011–2012
Charles Simonds: Mental Earth, Growths and Smears, Knoedler & Company, New York, NY (solo)
2011
Otherwordly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities, Museum of Arts and Design, New York.
2011
Kindred Spirits: Native American Influences on 20th Century Art. Peter Blum Gallery, New York
2010–2011
Monolithes ou L’Architecture en Suspens (1950–2010): Artistes et Architectes du FRAC Centre, FRAC Centre, Orléans, France.
2010–2011
Engaging with Nature: American and Native American Arts (A.D. 1200–2004), Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey
2010
Mixed Use, Manhattan: Photography and Related Practices, 1970s to the Present, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.
2010
Artpark: 1974–1984, UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts, Buffalo, New York, NY
2009
La Escultura en la Cóleccion del IVAM, Institut Valencia d’Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
2009
Alternative Spaces, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe.
2009
Landscape/Body/Dwelling: Charles Simonds at Dumbarton Oaks, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.(solo)
2008–2009
Conversations in Clay, (part of the multi-venue exhibition All Fired Up!), Katonah Museum of Art, New York.
2008–2009
Miradas Arquitectonicas en la colección del IVAM, Museo Bellas Artes Gravina (MUBAG), Italy.
2007–2008
Strange Events Permit Themselves the Luxury of Occurring, Camden Arts Centre, London, England.
2007–2008
Multiplex: Directions in Art, 1970, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
2006
De Barro y Yeso, Castillo de Santa Barbara, Alicante, Spain.
2006
Full House: Views of the Whitney’s Collection at 75, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
2005
Charles Simonds: Dwelling, Fundacion Bilbao Arte, Bilbao, Spain (solo)
2004–2005
Architecture & Arts: A Century of Creative Projects in Building, Design, Cinema, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy.
2004
Charles Simonds: Demeures. Les Abattoirs, Art Moderne et Contempoain, Toulouse, France.(solo)
2003
Charles Simonds, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), Spain.(solo)
2002
Charles Simonds, Galeria Enrico Navarra, Paris, France.(solo)
2002
Model World, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut.
2001
Is Was, Joseph Helman Gallery, New York,NY(solo)
2000
Andoe, Oppenheim, Simonds, Joseph Helman Gallery, New York, NY
2000
Collection Cordier, Les Abattoirs, Art Moderne et Contemporain, Toulouse, France.
2000
Set and Situations, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
2000
Defining Craft, American Craft Design, New York.
1999–2000
The Clay Grows Tall: The World of Charles Simonds, Denver Art Museum, Dever, CO (solo)
1999
Charles Simonds, Houseplants, Joseph Helman Gallery, New York, NY(solo)
1999
Lie of the Land, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, England.
1997
Terres D’Ici et D’Ailleurs, Charles Simonds, Ousmane Sow, Espace d’Art Contemporain, Lycée Agricole Xavier Bernard, Rouillé, France.
1994–1995
Charles Simonds, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France. (solo)
1994
Charles Simonds, Retrospective, Fundación “La Caixa,” Barcelona, Spain.(solo)
1993
Charles Simonds, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY(solo)
1993
Differentes Natures, Visions de l’art contemporain, Galerie Art 4 and Galerie de l’Esplanande Défense, Paris, France
1992
Strugg. Thebb. . . The Singing Monkey, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1988–1992
Contemporary Icons and Explorations, The Goldstrom Family Collection, Traveling exhibition.
1991
Charles Simonds, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France (solo)
1990
Loyola’s Danna Center Gallery, New Orleans, LA (solo)
1990
Sculpture Aspen 1990, Aspen Art Museum, CO
1990
El Sueno Egipto, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, A.C., Polanco, Mexico
1989–1990
Donations Daniel Cordier, Le regard d’un amateur, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
1989
Selections from the Permanent Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
1989
Miniature Environments, Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York, NY
1989
Charles Simonds Wall Smears and Rocks, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY(solo)
1988
Spectrum: Charles Simonds, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (solo)
1988
Big Little Sculpture, Williams College of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
1988
Golem! Danger, Deliverance and Art, The Jewish Museum, New York
1988
Olympiades des Arts, Seoul, Korea.
1987
Symbolic Narrative, Beaver College Art Gallery, Spruance Art Center Glenside, Pennsylvania.
1987
The Eloquent Object, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Traveling.
1987
Leo Castelli and His Artists: 30 Years of Promoting Contemporary Art, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico.
1987
Fifty Years of Collecting: An Anniversary Selection. Sculpture of the Modern Era, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
1987
Charles Simonds: Installation, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France (solo)
1987
Architecture as Image, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, New York
1986
Simonds, Galerie Maeght Lelong, Paris, France.(solo)
1986
Steinberg, Simonds, Beuys, Galerie Maeght Lelong, Paris, France.
1985–1986
Rethinking the Avant-Garde, Katonah Museum of Art, New York.
1985–1986
Transformations in Sculpture, Four Decades of American and European Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
1985
Charles Simonds: The Three Trees, Architekturmuseum, Basel, Switzerland.(solo)
1984
House Plants and Rocks, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1984
Cathey Billian, Michael Graves, Charles Simonds: Art for the Park, Liberty State Park Art Projects, Jersey City Museum, NJ
1984
Return of the Narrative, Palm Springs Desert Museum, California
1983
New Art at the Tate Gallery, 1983, The Tate Gallery, London, England.
1983
Habitats, Clocktower, New York, NY
1983
The Houses That Are Built, The Main Art Gallery, Visual Arts Center, California State University, Fullerton
1983
Circles and Towers Growing, Age, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (solo)
1981–1983
Charles Simonds: Circles and Towers Growing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Fort Worth Art Museum, Texas; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Texas; Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska.(solo)
1982
Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee, December. Charles Simonds: Home Making, Walter Phillips Gallery, The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada.(solo)
1982
Vergangenheit-Gegenwart-Zukunft, Trilogie II, Würtembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany.
1982
Terres, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
1981
Mythos und Ritual in der Kunst der 70er Jahre, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland.
1980
Pier + Ocean: Construction in the Art of the Seventies, Hayward Gallery, London, England; Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Netherlands.
1980
Architectural Sculpture, Institute of Contemporary Art, California State University, Los Angeles, CA
1980
ROSC—‘80, National Gallery of Ireland, University College, School of Architecture, Dublin, Ireland.
1980
Charles Simonds, Dartmouth College Museum, Beaumont-May Gallery, Hopkins Center, Hanover, NH.(solo)
1980
Charles Simonds: Installation, California State University, Fine Arts Gallery, Art Department, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
1980
Architectural References, The Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada.
1980
Charles Simonds: Évolution imaginaire d’un paysage, Musée de l’Abbaye Sainte-Croix, Les Sables-d’Olonne, France (solo)
1980
Floating Cities and Other Architectures, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland (solo)
1980
Ice House, University of Iowa, School of Art, Iowa (solo)
1979–1980
Masks Tents Vessels Talismans, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
1979–1980
Supershow, organized by Independent Curators International, New York. The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York; Landmark Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota; The Center for Fine Arts, Mesa, Arizona; The New Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio.
1979
Contemporary Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1979
Ten Artists/Artists Space, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York.
1979
Circles and Towers Growing, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (solo)
1979
Circles and Towers Growing, evolution imaginaire d’un paysage, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris, France (solo)
1979
Dwellings, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
1978–1979
DAAD Artists, DAADgalerie, Berlin, Germany.
1978
Sculpture/Nature, Centre d’Arts Plastiques Contemporains (CAPC), Bordeaux, France.
1978
Architectural Analogues, Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch, New York.
1978
Door Beeldhouwers Gemaakt/Made by Sculptors, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1978
Schwebende Städte und andere Architekturen/Floating Cities and Other Architectures, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany; Bonner Kunstverein, Germany (solo)
1978
Città galleggianti, Saman Gallery, Genoa, Italy (solo)
1978
XXXVIII Biennale, Venice, Italy
1978
Dwellings, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
1977–1978
Probing the Earth: Contemporary Land Projects, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California; Seattle Art Museum, Washington.
1977
Charles Simonds: Temenos, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (solo)
1977
Biennial Exhibition: Contemporary American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
1977
A Question of Scale, Visual Arts Museum, New York.
1977
Naturbetrachtung-Naturverfremdung, Trilogie I, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany.
1977
The City Project 1977: Outdoor Environmental Art, organized by Independent Curators International, Washington, D.C. The New Gallery of Contemporary Art and Cleveland State University, Ohio.
1977
Documenta VI, Kassel, Germany.
1977
Scale and Environment: 10 Sculptors, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1976–1977
Charles Simonds: Picaresque Landscape, “Projects” series, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The New York Public Library, Tompkins Square, New York, NY (solo)
1976
9th Biennale de Paris à Nice, Musées de Nice, France.
1976
Subject, Object, Project: Projects for PCA, Philadelphia College of Art, Pennsylvania.
1976
Earth Day Festival, 1976, Museum of Natural History, New York.
1976
Rooms, P.S. 1, Long Island City, New York.
1976
International Events 1972–76, special exhibition at the XXXVII Biennale, Venice, Italy.
1976
Dwellings, Saman Gallery, Genoa, Italy (solo)
1975–1976
Charles Simonds: Demeures et Mythologies, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France (solo)
1975–1976
Artists Space, New York, NY (solo)
1975
Biennial Exhibition: Contemporary American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
1975
Primitive Presence in the 70s, Vassar College Museum of Art, Poughkeepsie, New York.
1975
Art in Landscape, traveling exhibition organized by Independent Curators International, Washington, D.C.
1975
Small Scale, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.
1974
Interventions in Landscape, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hayden Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1974
Dwelling Places for Little People, Artpark, Lewiston, New York.
1973
8th Biennale de Paris, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
1971
112 Greene Street Group, 112 Greene Street, New York.
view more

Public Collections

The Museum of Modern Art, New York
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne, Germany
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Fundaci6n "Ia Caixa;' Barcelona, Spain
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
lnstitutValencia d'Art Modern (IVAM), Spain
Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland
Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey
Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Les Abattoirs-Art Moderne et Contemporain, Toulouse, France
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Castellani Art Museum, Niagara University, New York
Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Fonds Regional d'Art Contemporain (FRAC) Centre, Orleans, France
Maxine & Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
view more

Literature

2011
John Beardsley, Germano Celant, Linda Lott, Joanne Pillsbury and Ann Reynolds, Landscape/Body/Dwelling: Charles Simonds at Dumbarton Oaks. Exh. cat. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., 2011.
2003
David Anfam, Kosme de Barañano, Lucy Lippard and Teresa Millet, Charles Simonds. Exh. cat. Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), Spain, 2003.
2002
Enrico Navarra, Jean-Louis Prat and Werner Spies, Charles Simonds. Exh. cat. Aleria Enrico Navarra, Paris, France, 2002.
1994
Daniel Abadie, Germano Celant and Jacques Lambert, Charles Simonds. Exh. cat. Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France, 1994.
1981
Daniel Abadie, John Beardsley, John Hallmark Neff and Charles Simonds, Charles Simonds: Circles and Towers Growing. Exh. cat. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1981.
1979
Lucy R. Lippard and Charles Simonds. Crackimg/Brüchig werden (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 1979).
1975
Charles Simonds. Three Peoples (Genoa: Samanedizione, 1975).
view more