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 structure, 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 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. Her own identity, largely shaped by queerness and coming from a mixed background (Peruvian-American), also influences and embeds itself into the work to varying degrees of abstraction and focus. 

 

Overall, her multi-layered approach invites variegated interpretations and questions for the viewer's consideration. Through the use of perceptual devices and altar-like spaces, Grimm 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 this process of interaction is very important to Grimm—the viewer’s presence and placement within the work is the method through which it can be fully activated and made whole. The artwork's ability to function as a platform through which these physical, psychological, and emotive experiences can take shape has been a fascination and driving force behind the majority of her work thus far.

 

 

 

Grimm completed her BA in Sculpture from the University of Puget Sound (2012), and MFA in Sculpture from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan (2018). She also holds 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.