Danny Simmons: Visual Expressions: Butler Institute of American Art

The  Butler Institute of American Art presents a solo exhibition of Danny Simmons' artwork including unique prints and paintings as well as a monumental nine-paneled collage by the artist.

For over four decades, Simmons has created paintings, works on paper, and assemblage informed by various indigenous and African visual cultures and histories. As the founder of the artistic movement Neo-African Abstract Expressionism, Simmons reclaims traditional African motifs used in modernism through his use of dots, textiles, and tribal markings.

For his solo exhibition at the Butler Institute of American Art, Simmons collaborated with the renowned printmaker Gary Lichtenstein, of Lichtenstein Editions, to create ten screenprints of varying tones, each entitled Strata (2025). By then applying textiles to the printed surfaces, Simmons created a series of artworks that are simultaneously reproduced and unique — a conceptual analog to the accumulation of individual experiences atop common histories.

“The transition from a layered painting to a silkscreen print is a powerful evolution. The printing process acts as a mirror, with every layer of ink informing the original artistic decisions I made. Upon seeing the initial prints for my Butler Institute exhibition, my immediate instinct was to continue their story. By integrating textiles and fabric back onto the prints, I bridge the gap between original and reproduction, physically constructing my exploration of deep-seated themes of ancestry, memory and the diaspora.” (Danny Simmons, 2026)