Andrea Simon

Thesis Abstract:

Removing the Sheets: An Obsessive Attempt at Constructing Identity explores the use of creative practice to reckon with the futility and the impulse of defining the self. Inspired by trauma, memories, intersectionality, biases and other aspects that make up a person’s identity, I use stories as an impetus for creation. I use the creation and selection of materials as an opportunity to meditate on my stories. I use the curation of these materials for discovery of something new. I use the showing of my work as a space allowing an audience to imbue their stories onto the finished work. I repeat this process as a means of constructing and clarifying my image of self, and affirming my own worthiness of attention.

Artist Statement:

As the image of myself becomes sharper in my brain and more precious, I feel less afraid that someone else will erase me by denying me love. -Jenny Slate

As I seek a reckoning of “Andrea Shonna Simon”, I get stuck in the strange significance I project on fragments of my past.

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because my college roommate left asparagus on the counter every time she brought a new conquest home?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because my mom used to make me hot dog pizza and pizza burgers for special occasions?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I scrubbed aqua blue carpet in my childhood living-room with bleach to surprise my mom?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I realized my high-school sweetheart wouldn’t last when he stopped singing?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I shallowly regret that I did not pursue a career educating the puberty-tainted minds of teenagers about math?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because I can shamelessly and horrifically recite every word to Fergaliscous and Redneck Woman?

Am I Andrea Shonna Simon because while my mom faced chemo, I would pet her balding head as I walked past her desk chair?

The list is endless. As I continue my obsessive self-reflection, I am choosing to celebrate fragments and the affirmation they provide. Thinking of negative space as a term with two meanings: 1. Everything except the thing you’re supposed to pay your attention to and 2. An emotional space with negative associations, my practice toys with the prioritization of negative space as milestones. I use the interconnectivity of these milestones to painstakingly retool what “Andrea Shonna Simon” could possibly mean. I hope that by memorializing fragments, I can show their elevation of importance and, by association, my own worthiness of attention.

Target Practice

Wood, concrete, can, spray paint, negative space

2018-2020

Photography by Jason Horvath. Image courtesy of the artist.

A Grown Man’s Tantrum

Wood, concrete, can, spray paint, negative spaces, sparkly stickers, plates, tinsel, crocheted toy elephant, flashlight, wood veneer/ particle board. cabinet on castors, negative space

2019

Photography by Jason Horvath. Image courtesy of the artist.

Lingering

Wallpaper, wood, mylar oil paint, negative space

2020

Photography by Jason Horvath. Image courtesy of the artist.

My Brother, and RomanWood 3:23

Sheetrock, screws, reading lamp, mylar, wood, faux wood contact paper, muffin tin, watercolor, negative space

2019-2020

Photography by Jason Horvath. Image courtesy of the artist.