TOO BIG by J. SHIMON & J. LINDERMANN

bio :

John Shimon (b. 1961) & Julie Lindemann (b. 1957) have been photographing collaboratively since the mid-1980s.

We met as college students in Madison where we formed a band, Hollywood Autopsy. John sold his flock of sheep and we moved to New York a few weeks after graduation. Within a year, we realized we could best photograph what we knew and returned to Wisconsin.

Our projects include St. Nazianz, The Elders, Animal Husbandry, Salon Portraits, Midwestern Rebellion, Pictures of Non-Famous People, One Million Years is Three Seconds, Go-Go Girls, and What We Do Here . This work examines the remote corner of the rural Midwest where we have spent most of our lives. In 1989, we moved our studio into a 19th century warehouse storefront building in downtown Manitowoc, Wisconsin. We ran Neo-Post-Now Gallery in the storefront for a brief time.

Solo shows have been mounted at many galleries and museums including Sarah Bowen Gallery (New York), Wendy Cooper Gallery (Chicago), Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin Academy GalleryWisconsin Academy Gallery (Madison) and Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee). Our prints are in numerous public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Milwaukee Art Museum, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. We've photographed for Fortune, Metropolis, New York, People, and The New York Times Magazine and have received project grants from the Wisconsin Arts Board and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Our work is featured in Wisconsin Then and Now: The Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Rephotography Project by Nicolette Bromberg (University of Wisconsin Press, 2001), Photography's Antiquarian Avant-Garde: The New Wave in Old Processes by Lyle Rexer (Harry N. Abrams, 2002), Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self by Coco Fusco and Brian Wallis (Harry N. Arbrams, 2003), Season's Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree (Melcher Media, 2004), and Unmasked & Anonymous: Shimon & Lindemann Consider Portraiture by Lisa Hostetler (Milwaukee Art Museum, 2008).

We have bachelors degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1983), and Masters degrees from Illinois State University, Normal (1989) where we studied under Rhondal McKinney and photographed for the Rural Documentary Collection. We are Assistant Professors of Art at Lawrence University.

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