Simone Leigh “Last Garment” “Satellite” “Brick House” “Anonymous” “Jug” “Sentinel” “Sharifa” “Martinique” “Sphinx” US Pavilion Venice Biennale Art Exhibition

Simone Leigh was born in 1967; she lives and works in New York. Her works are exhibited in the United States Pavilion of the Biennale at the Giardini, except for “Brick House”, exposed in the Corderie of the Arsenal in Venice.

Simone Leigh “Satellite”

Sculpture - Bronze (720 x 300 x 230 cm) 2022
The large bronze sculpture “Satellite” welcomes us at the entrance of the United States Pavilion, imposing with its seven meters high, a sculpture so tall that you can even pass between the legs of the statue.

“Satellite” is reminiscent of both traditional and primitive African sculptures while offering totally contemporary lines and curves.

These African religious sculptures had the function of communicating with the Gods, and Simone Leigh respects this mission by modernizing contact with the afterlife by installing a satellite parabola in place of the head of her sculpture.

Simone Leigh “Last Garment”

Sculpture - bronze (137 x 147 x 67 cm) 2022
“Last Garment” is a bronze sculpture depicting a black woman doing her laundry while rubbing her laundry on a rock.

Simone Leigh shows us this woman, broken in two by her work, her feet in the water of a basin created for the occasion, which adds an extra dimension to her sculpture.

Simone Leigh “Jug”

Sculpture - Glazed stoneware (159 x 103 x 116 cm) 2022
“Jug” is a large jar, more than one meter and fifty high, made of white ceramic.

It is decorated with shells from the porcelain group used as currency in East Africa.

Simone Leigh “Anonymous”

Sculpture - Glazed stoneware (298 x 155 x 129 cm) 2022
“Anonymous” is a large white glazed stoneware sculpture that depicts a woman leaning her face against her clasped hands as if praying simultaneously.

A form of serenity, of calm, emerges from this sculpture, which was inspired by Simone Leigh by a photograph of a woman sitting in the same attitude, a woman whose name is unknown, hence the title “Anonymous” of this sculpture.

Simone Leigh “Sentinel”

Sculpture - bronze (492 x 99 x 59 cm) 2022
“Sentinel” is another colossal bronze sculpture by Simone Leigh, but this time totally slender and slender compared to “Satellite”.

Here we come close to the primitive statues traditionally used in fertility rites. With this title, “Sentinelle”, the artist gives him the role of observer and guardian.

Simone Leigh “Sharifa”

Sculpture - Bronze (283 x 103 x 103 cm) 2022
“Sharifa” is a beautiful, imposing bronze statue almost three meters high.

This work is a portrait of the writer Sharifa-Rhodes-Pitts who has published a book about an imaginary Harlem, a Harlem she dreams of, but far from reality, a book in honour of dreamers.

A beautiful concept which is close to the works of Simone Leigh.

Note the foot that appears under Sharifa's dress, which recalls the tradition of Egyptian statuary.

Simone Leigh “Martinique”

Sculpture - Glazed stoneware (154 x 105 x 101 cm) 2022
“Martinique” is a blue enamelled sandstone statue from which a naked bust of a woman emerges from a dress in the shape of a high bell or even a dome.

She is headless and supports her two prominent, upwardly erect breasts.

Simone Leigh “Sphinx”

Sculpture - Glazed stoneware (80 x 143 x 96 cm) 2022
“Sphinx” is another reference to Egypt. A very graceful statue with the body of a lion and a beautiful face of a black woman.

Simone Leigh “Brick house”

Sculpture - Bronze (490 cm high) 2019
“Brick House”, a bronze statue nearly 5 meters high, is exhibited in the rope factory of the Arsenal of Venice, whose body resembles a clay hut and is surmounted by a head whose features are those of the face of the sphinx.

This woman is presented as a deity and is expected to be surrounded by devotees to seek her help and protection.

Simone Leigh, Anonymous, Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition

Leigh, Anonymus

Leigh, Brick House

Simone Leigh, Jug

Leigh, Last Garment

Leigh, Martinique

Simone Leigh, Satellite

Simone Leigh, Sentinelle

Simone Leigh, Sharifa

Simone Leigh, Sphynx