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For over a decade, Danny Simmons has been using the power of art to empower his adopted city through Rush Arts Philadelphia in the Logan neighborhood.
Heartbreakingly, his time working in Philly has ended. Simmons has died at age 72, his family announced Monday.
“It is with a profound sense of loss that we honor and celebrate the life of Danny Simmons Jr., a beacon of love and creativity,” younger brother Russell Simmons wrote on the social media post.
“He was not just a brother, father, uncle, grandfather, and loving husband; he was a vibrant artist, dedicated supporter of creatives and a cherished friend. Though he has transitioned from this world, his legacy of kindness, generosity, and artistic brilliance will forever shine brightly in our hearts.”
His legacy, however, lives on.
The published author, poet, and philanthropist – who is also the older brother of Def Jam founder Russell Simmons and Run-DMC co-founder Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons – viewed creativity as a vital tool for social healing as the co-founder of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.
Last month, Billy Penn’s Rashad Grove caught up with Simmons to talk about his move to Philly, how the city inspires his art, and why he believes Philadelphia could be the epicenter of the next great cultural awakening.
Simmons grew up in New York City and said he developed “some artistic abilities really young, because my mother was an amateur painter, and she used to sit me down and paint all the time, so I knew I could do a little bit of something. But I leaned towards writing. I have a novel and a bunch of poetry books and whatnot.”
He attended New York University for social work, but “felt a little frustrated because, doing social work in New York City, all you do is fill cracks. You’re not really changing anything. The only thing I was doing was hanging out with my clients, who were old jazz cats down in the Village. In 1992, I quit being a social worker and decided I was going to be a full-time artist.”
With support from his family – younger brother Russell helped him gut the basement floor and turn it into an art gallery – Simmons began painting, eventually becoming partner at Annex gallery and then starting Rush Arts in 1995.
After decades of shaping New York’s cultural landscape — from founding Def Poetry Jam, which earned him a Tony Award for the Broadway version of the show, to being a major player in the Chelsea gallery scene — Simmons relocated to Philadelphia to launch Rush Arts Philly.
“I just came off a solo show at the African American Museum, but the year before that, friends took me around to all the cultural institutions. I was being plugged in long before I came. My friends, the Tiberino family, who are a family of artists, were encouraging me to come,” Simmons said.
“I thought I could sell my house in New York and then buy a building to open another Rush. The neighborhood I moved to was Northern Liberties, which reminded me of Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, where I was living.”
“There was nothing else like” Rush Arts Philly at the time, said Simmons, due to Philly’s comparative lack of art infrastructure in neighborhoods compared to Chelsea or Brooklyn in NYC.
“But what I love about Philly is that there are so many murals. It’s a crazy number of murals, and I actually have five of them here. I enjoy having my art in a public way, like I didn’t have in New York, which is not a mural town like Philly is,” he said.
Being able to have a mural painted in Logan after meeting Jane Golden, the director of the Mural Arts program, “was a big deal to me.”
“I picked a spot, a building right across the street from my gallery. So now there’s a huge space right across the street from my gallery, named Kuba Kingdom. Gabe, one of the Tiberino brothers, did the painting because my old ass was not getting up on a ladder. Gabe actually painted three of the five murals that I have. They’re all in neighborhoods of color where there is less density of murals.”
