Captivated by imagery from different time periods, the Special Character series began after Simpson foundcopies of Ebony magazines from the 1950s to 1970s that belonged to her grandmother. Ebony magazineembodies African American thought and point of view, notable for documenting lifestyle, culture, and politicsand issues otherwise unrepresented by mainstream media. ‘As an artist gravitating towards advertising andimages of women—from very small wig ads or hair product ads, to large-scale national ads—advertisementschronicle periods of time in terms of politics and expressions of self-determination,’ Simpson explains. Thesubjects of NYC Story (2023) are framed within a smaller rectangle akin to film stills or negatives, acting as asnapshot of a moment in history. By repurposing and reconfiguring found images—a signature source in herwork—Simpson creates her own highly distinctive visual terrain that offers a potent response to American life.

The striking gazes in Simpson’s amalgamated portraits exude a power in looking, in representation and invisibility. Though their glances invite us to look, we are separated by the layers of pigment and by the timeperiods that define them. In works such as Third Person and Z (2023), several versions of the same face canbe discerned – the considered selection and placement of the found images in these large-scale, silk-screenworks are juxtaposed with the spontaneous nature of the ink that is layered on top, forming uncanny, dreamlikeportraits. The layered fragments of the figures morph, fuse and shift before the viewer’s eyes, settling into acomposite female face accentuated with fluorescent pink or orange pigment whose direct gaze meets theviewer. In works such As far as possible (2023) and NYC Story (2023), the face becomes simultaneouslypresent and partially obscured, exploring the duality of these spliced personas and the interruption betweentheir physical appearance and their inner psyche—refracted and amplified by the additional external layer ofthe viewer’s own contemplation.

Through unexpected reconfigurations of visual culture, the artist continues to develop her distinctive languageof the found image as a source, encouraging new narratives to emerge from unexpected origins. Over doublethe size of the other works, Simpson liberates the subject in Night Fall (2023) from its history by placingher in a new, otherworldly context. The azure pigment, glowing with an ethereal luminescence, cascadesfrom the figure into a bright pool, demonstrating the artist’s mastery of ink and paint. Simpson’s new workcontinues to immerse viewers in the characteristic paradoxes of her praxis, weaving dichotomies of figurationand abstraction, past and present, destruction and creation into the fabric of her oeuvre.