Arthur Simms was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1961. He emigrated to Brooklyn, New York in 1969. He received his Masters Degree in Fine Arts in 1993 and Bachelor of Arts in 1987 from Brooklyn College. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, including representing the country of Jamaica in the 49th Venice Biennial in 2001. He was a participant in the 58th Venice Biennial in the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Penitenti, Venice in 2019. Other venues have included Musée International des Arts Modestes, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, Neuberger Museum, American Academy of Arts and Letters, MOMA P.S.1, and more. Numerous awards have included the Rome Prize Fellowship, Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Creative Capital Grant, Guggenheim Fellowship, Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, Residency from the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Residency at the New Roots Foundation in Antigua, Guatemala, Residency at Campo Garzon in Garzon, Uruguay, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.
Simms is on the boards of MacDowell and Skowhegan and is the Director of the Arts Program at CUNY, LaGuardia Community College where he is a Professor of Art.
