Daniel “Danny” Simmons, the artist who helped build a network of support for Black cultural production, has died at 72.
His family announced the death but did not provide a location, date, or cause. Born in Hollis, Queens, in 1953, Simmons became known not only for his paintings but also for the institutions, publications, and performance projects he helped shape across New York and beyond.
He was the older brother of Russell Simmons and Joseph Simmons, known as Rev. Run. In 1995, the three brothers co-founded Rush Arts and the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, an effort designed to expand access to exhibitions, arts education, scholarships, grants, and events for disadvantaged artists of color. Simmons later founded Corridor Gallery in his Brooklyn loft apartment, then established another Rush Arts after moving to Philadelphia in 2015.
His reach extended well past the gallery wall. With Russell Simmons, he helped establish Def Poetry Jam, the HBO series that ran from 2002 to 2007. A Broadway production of the project won a Tony Award for best special theatrical event in 2003, underscoring how Simmons moved easily between visual art, poetry, and performance.
Simmons described his own style as Neo-African Abstract Expressionism, a phrase that reflects both his formal ambition and his interest in ancestry, symbolism, and improvisation. His work is held by collectors including Will Smith and Lyor Cohen, and by institutions such as Chase Manhattan Bank, the United Nations, the Schomburg Center for Black Culture, the Smithsonian Institution’s African American Museum, and the Anacostia Community Museum.
Recent exhibitions included “Danny Simmons: The Journey to Everything,” shown at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore in 2024 and the Houston Museum of African American Culture in 2025. A 2009 survey at Spanierman Gallery traced 15 years of his work. Critics noted the dense mythic imagery, vivid color, and a visual language that balanced whimsy with unease.
Simmons also published several books of prose, fiction, and poetry, including the 2004 novel Three Days As The Crow Flies and the 2007 volume I Dreamed My People Were Calling But I Couldn’t Find My Way Home. In a 2017 interview, he summed up his belief in the medium with a line that now reads as a final credo: “Art saves lives. It’s that simple.”
