Statement
I am an architect of worlds, using my preoccupation with my everyday patterns of thought as building blocks to construct sanctuaries of play. I use the process of drawing, painting, and sculpture to carve out portals to this world, where the object becomes the intermediary between layers of memory and invented joys. The work serves as compendium for a new visual language, carefully arranged to explore and curate this space of vulnerability.
Bio
Zack Simonson is interested in why he is interested and explores this through the act of self-discovery and self-organization. His work exists at an intermediary between the real and the imagined, a space where play and invention become an act of meditation. His work has been shown at Pentimenti, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, and Vox Populi in Philadelphia, as well as Anna Zorina in New York. He currently lives and works in Philadelphia, where he teaches and maintains an at home studio practice.
Education
2017 – 2019
Master of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2011 – 2016
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting, University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, Whitewater, WI
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Curio, 2C Books, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Juried Exhibition XIX, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA
2023
Mythogems, Automat Collective, Philadelphia, PA
Emerging Artist Exhibition, Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick, MD
Moore College of Art Faculty Triennial, The Galleries at Moore, Philadelphia, PA
2021
The Fellowship of PAFA Annual Exhibition, Gross McCleaf, Philadelphia, PA
The Codex Project, Works on Paper, Philadelphia, PA
Zoom In, Spillway Collective, Philadelphia, PA
2020
5 to Watch, Avery Galleries, Bryn Mawr, PA
Iconologies, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia, PA
2019
Ad Astra Per Aspera, Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY
Proximity, Anna Zorina Gallery, New York, NY
It is Here, It is Now, I Am, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
A Song of Colors, FMC Tower, Philadelphia, PA
2018
Without Roots We Are Nothing, Esther Klein Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Two Cents Some Change, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts – Philadelphia, PA
A Place of Rest, Gallery 8, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Press
2025
“‘Curio’ and world building, Zachary Simonson at Marginal Utility/2C Books”, Artblog
2024
“Meet Zachary Simonson | Artist & Educator”, interview with Shoutout LA
2019
“It is Here, It is Now, I Am”, Wall Street International Magazine
