Talking Objects: Young Man (Unnamed), 1987

Simmons’ legacy is broadly recognized for her use of dolls, toys, puppets, and other objects that recall upbringing in American suburbia. Through these subjects, the artist injects subversive commentary beneath their typical superficialities. In Talking Objects (1987-1989), Simmons employs ventriloquist dolls, disquieting subjects designed to entertain, but which encompass deeper and more sinister suggestions of power, control, and the subjugation of agency.

Throughout the reading of Talking Objects, we find that Simmon’s not only embraces but further exaggerates the anthropomorphic features of these objects. Through dramatized, theatrical lighting and suggestions for formal portraiture, the artist pushes the absurdity beyond the boundaries of realistic expectation, providing viewers the opportunity to draw insights from the wreckage of believability. And what might these insights consist of? The prevalence of artifice within hyper saturated media conditions, the reflections of truths that are buried beneath such pretense, and, perhaps most significantly, our own human difficulties in being able to discern which is which.

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