Alison Grimm (b. 1983 Detroit, Michigan) works in a variety of media including sculpture, installation, ceramic, and paper collage. The artwork centers on the transformative experience of the viewer evoked through form, reference, and the viewer's imagination. Grimm abstracts personal and collective histories, political and philosophical topics, and ponders the challenges of communication and perception, creating the foundations of a wide ranging oeuvre. For example, Territorial Exclusivity (2013) utilizes sound and fragments of a stark domestic space to reflect on the history of inequity, racism and segregation that continues to impact cities such as Detroit - constituting one work in a series of sculptures and installations that serve as reflections on American Dream mythologies. In addition, Grimm's identity - largely shaped by queerness and coming from a mixed and progressive Peruvian-American background - also embeds itself into the work, where their dual interests in social justice and counterculture help to further compelling narratives and imagery. 

 

Overall, Grimm's multi-layered approach invites variegated interpretations and questions for the viewer's consideration. Through the use of perceptual devices, and altar-like spaces, the work seeks our attention and imagination to further these narratives while reflecting on personal and collective roles, and potentials for the future. Creating an exchange with the audience through a process of interaction is very important to Grimm—subtly drawing the viewer into the work is the method through which it can be more fully activated. The artwork's ability to function as a platform in which these physical, psychological, and emotive experiences can be translated continues to be a fascination and driving force behind their work.

 

Grimm completed a BA in Sculpture from the University of Puget Sound (2012), and MFA in Sculpture from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan (2018). They also hold an MA degree in American History, Culture and Society from Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in Munich, Germany (2020). Grimm currently works and resides in Seattle, WA.