Simon Denny
Simon Denny was born in Auckland in 1982. He studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, from 2001 to 2005 and at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, under Willem de Rooij, from 2007 to 2009.
Denny examines how through design, art and architecture history is instrumentalised to create and enforce powerful myths about organisations. He often uses commissions and case studies as tools for exploring these topics, which lead to large scale installations and multilayered collaborations. For this, Denny uses compliance, celebration and overstatement as artistic strategies.
Simon Denny’s artistic practice has been prominently featured in solo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2015), Portikus, Frankfurt am Main (2014), Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, and Kunstverein Munich (both 2013) as well as in his participation in recent group shows at prominent museums (including Kunsthaus Bregenz; ICA, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fridericianum Kassel).
Denny’s work is in public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.
He is represented by Galerie Buchholz, Berlin and Cologne; Petzel Gallery, New York; T293, Rome and Naples; and Michael Lett, Auckland.