When you’re strolling or playing outside, how often are you considering the tiny microorganisms that make up our environment? That’s one of a few questions posed by a new biomorphic sculpture exhibit during this week's Art Basel.
Viewing SPORE, the new sculpture by rising Miami-based sculptor Troy Simmons, is like peeking inside of a microscope that reveals a tiny world of black, fluid microorganisms.
Now scale that up to a 10-feet welded sculpture with hand-sewn fabrics, discarded aluminum parts, and mirrored surfaces that reflect one's image.
Does the artwork symbolize plant growth? A human cellular structure? It's actually a "hybrid," a symbiotic relationship that speaks to the core of our humanity, Simmons told WLRN.
"These other worlds of microbiology that's around us every day and we live with them every day but we don't really pay attention to it," said Simmons, a multimedia artist who is originally from a hand-built farmhouse in Palestine, Texas.
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"You don't really notice it until you get sick. But we have to really acknowledge them really on the same level as us as humans, because we're all taking the space together."
A spore is a reproductive cell produced by various bacteria, plants, and fungi.
The large-scale piece, exhibited at Miami's Fredric Snitzer Gallery, stands nearly 10-feet in height, with a width of 9 feet and a depth of 5 feet. Art lovers have glared at its imposing presence and used the outdoor space, with grass growing between the crevices of the concrete floor, to to connect with other visitors.
Fredric Snitzer, adjunct professor at the New World School of the Arts and owner of the gallery for nearly five decades, told WLRN that SPORE is "very accessible to everyone" and that the "scale is personal and monumental, simultaneously."
SPORE is part of Simmon’s Durchbruch ("breakthrough" in German) series, which goes back to the early 1990s and his years of academic study of architecture and environmental science.
In his Miami-based studio, Simmons often creates multi-textured art using a variety materials like acrylic, concrete, and other found objects. The themes often explore the tug-and-pull between the natural habitat and human identity. SPORE has a large, singular black mirror attached to the upper body for that reason.
"The reflective elements represent in the piece a way to like see yourself within this thing and you’re trying to figure out what it is," he said. "And it’s trying to figure you out and how you both interact and live together in this environment."
IF YOU GO
What: SPORE exhibit
When: Friday, December 6, 2024 through January 2025
Where: Fredric Snitzer Gallery 1540 NE Miami Ct, Miami, FL 33132
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