Darrin Simmons

Growing up with a speech impediment, I found communication to be a difficult and frustrating task. I avoided direct interaction with other people, frequently retreating into my own head. Over the years, these childhood tendencies towards self-isolation grew into severe social anxiety, avoidance, and low self-esteem. I use my work to comment on the problems generated by these disorders and how that relates to societies views on masculinity. Men are conditioned from a young age to hold in their emotions, to “act tough” or “walk it off,” that any hint of fragility or openness was a sign of weakness. By showing the male, primarily using myself as a model, in these hyper-emotional forms, with tears and snot streaming down their faces, I aim to subvert these classically held notions of masculinity. Aesthetically, the work is reminiscent of the 90’s era cartoons and comic books that I grew up around, and the ceramic Funk movement of the 60’s. Approaching serious issues with a tongue-in-cheek, satirical voice is my way of making these problems more manageable. This combined with the bright colors and textures creates a sense of uneasiness and whimsy, a grotesque sort of play within the work.
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