Closeup shot of typographic screenprint with red and mint colored serif lettering against a dark blue background.

American Dream

Blue-green gradient screenprint that reads "Fast Money/Fast Cars/Fast Women in white text.

Like many of the original pop artists of the 1960s, Simmons is drawn to imagery and text that can be interpreted on multiple levels. Television, advertising and social media teach us that conspicuous consumption, extravagance, abandon and revelry are the paths to happiness. Regardless of category, whenever we are advertised something, faster usually means “better.” In “American Dream,” Simmons was inspired by Ed Ruscha, paying homage to his iconic use of language to confront the complexities of American life, including consumerism, fantasy and indulgence in a typographic context.

With her hand-pulled screenprinting technique, Simmons achieves an aquamarine and turquoise background - to the underlying theme of disillusionment in our consumer driven world. Using this ombre element means it’s impossible to make each piece within the “edition” truly identical (unlike with her other screenprints), by doing this Simmons intentionally creating a visual parallel to how individual consumers have have a different interpretation and perception of what exactly constitutes the so-called “American Dream.”

DIMENSIONS: 30(h) x 40(w)
MEDIUM: Original Hand-Pulled Silkscreen; Edition of 20, Signed and Numbered
YEAR: 2015

Woman holding a blue-green gradient screenprint that reads "Fast Money/Fast Cars/Fast Women"
Closeup shot of green and blue gradient screenprint.
Blue gradient screenprint in white frame on a gray wall next to a Kaw-darth vadar looking figurine.