The View from The Inside

October 10 - March 18,2023

From Fort Works Art: "Fort Works Art (FWA) is thrilled to bring The View from The Inside featuring artwork by acclaimed portrait photographer Kate Simon running from October 22 – December 17, 2022. In this follow up to Chaos and Cosmos, her first solo exhibition at FWA, Simon showcases a smaller group of selected vintage Color Cibachromes from her personal archives. These photographs represent singular and individual moments of importance, for the artist in her life, spanning throughout her 50 plus year career. A balance must exist between subject and photographer, to capture these moments that truly reflect the subject. This is brilliantly illustrated in The View from The Inside. Simon is more than a capturer of moments. To say she is a living legend in the art world is an understatement. Her relationships with her subjects is truly rare. Simon’s professionalism, coupled with an intimacy that the subject will only allow when they trust and admire the photographer, is what sets her apart. Whether we’re looking at a portrait of Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Bourgeois, or Grace Jones, the gaze they give into or away from Simon’s lens embodies who they are fully and freely. When capturing these specific moments of such celebrated figures, Simon manages to capture each of their unique spirits and souls. We are taken into an inner world, into the personal spaces of these artists, which allows us to see them in a way that they are not able to be seen in the public realm. These quiet and reflective moments bring a new understanding of these individuals to the viewer. The trust that is present in these photographs is tangible. It would be next to impossible to have these moments in this generation of capturing celebrity. In announcing The View from The Inside, FWA owner and curator Lauren Saba stated, “Simon is a storyteller, and her role in each of these stories is profound. Whether staging a “nail sandwich” for John Waters for High Times Magazine upon the instruction of Glenn O’Brien, or capturing one of the rarest and engaged portraits of Rei Kawakubo, to photographing one of the most significant and bittersweet tributes to 9-11 I have ever seen with Steve Buscemi, Simon is always the catalyst to these images being so powerful and timeless. She is a force, and one of the most important photographers above ground.” Simon, who will be present on opening night, cares intensely for each portrait. Every single one has been specifically approved by her and worked on in partnership with one of two printers that she has used over the span of her career. From the time of capture, through the development process, and up until the moment a portrait is displayed, she is involved in the process. Her physical photographs are not editioned runs, and the limited quantity and quality of these remaining images is unparalleled. This body of work takes us into her world, one that is visually intimate, rich, and historically important. According to Simon, the secret to a great shot is all in the eyes. “Eye contact is what I look for most,” says the photographer. “The eyes provide the whole barometer of a person’s status. To me, without [eye contact] you ain’t got a picture.” “Kate got the gigs right off, starting with music papers like the NME and Sounds, then Interview and Rolling Stone, then the Vogues and Vanity Fair, but the pictures were always Kate Simon pictures – the view from the inside.” – Glenn O’ Brien, “The Great Kate”

Fort Works Art 2100 Montgomery Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
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