ARTIST: SIMONE SPICER
Art Histories are highly curated presentations of an artists’ life’s work provided for appreciators today, scholars of tomorrow, and generations to come.
Simone Spicer is a sculptor from the Philadelphia area whose work made from our culture’s unprecedented waste materials comments on our precarious relationship with the natural world. Her education includes a BFA in Sculpture from the Maine College of Art, an MFA in sculpture from the University of North Carolina, and she received a full scholarship to attend The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. “Simone Spicer recombines familiar objects, post-consumer goods, in unexpected ways; playfully revealing the innocence of humanity, while addressing our dire need for change.” Spicer’s recent works in recycled materials have been shown at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Seaport Museum, the Woodmere Museum of Art, and in the Philadelphia International Airport, exhibiting her installation titled, “Plastic Galactic”.
Much of Spicer’s work has been in partnership with other artist-activists in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York, informing the public about climate change through events such as “Art in The Open” in Philadelphia and “Fear Environmental Mayhem Ahead”, at the IceBox Project Space in Philadelphia. She is currently participating in a traveling exhibit on view at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and the ‘Peace Boat’ docked in Chelsea, NY. She has served on many panels with artists and scientists reporting on climate change, and addressing how artists are handling our predicament. Simone believes her work to be a message of hope for humanity in our time.
“I have used empty containers as a metaphor to suggest emptying the mind in meditation while also embodying the ability to hold space for humanity in their hollowness. I set out to spiritualize our waste materials, ‘re-purposing’ in the most deeply meaningful way I possibly can. ”
COLLECTION: WORKS IN recycled PLASTICS
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© Simone Spicer, Pumped, Motorized work, single use water bottles, fleece fabric, satin upholstery, 15 x 40 x 40 inches, 2011
© Simone Spicer, Fountain; Life Support System for a Collapsed Economy II (Installation view in Exhibition, FEMA: Fear Environmental Mayhem Ahead, presented at Icebox Project Space in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2020), shopping cart, plastic containers, motorized pump, water, 50 x 52 x 36 inches, 2020
Artist Statement
I build sculptures made from plastic single use containers and corrugated boxes, because I am endlessly fascinated by the symbolism the empty container, or vessel, with its ability to hold, offers. Containers serve as metaphor for the body and for the home and sustenance. My inspiration has always come from the materials I choose, and from the richness these particular materials bring forward in describing our culture and time in history. I view the disposable water bottles, Tide bottles, pill bottles, empty corrugated boxes and such as contemporary cultural iconography. Using our offal as building material enhances my images, as my work speaks of our relationship to nature, to each other, and to our collective past, present and future.
I often borrow subject matter and concepts from great art of the past. Using this framework elevates my materials and connects my images and our time to all of human history, despite the unprecedented impact humankind is having on our world today. In my figurative sculptures of familiar deities from different cultures, I have used empty containers as a metaphor to suggest emptying the mind in meditation while also embodying the ability to hold space for humanity in their hollowness. I set out to spiritualize our waste materials, ‘re-purposing’ in the most deeply meaningful way I possibly can.
In other works, like “Trash Talk”, a bust of Donald Trump, I use the symbolism of the waste materials to reinforce the lack of value inherent in the subject of the work. Conversely, in my works like “African American Youth”, “Fallen Hero”, and a series of “Street People”, I have used the waste materials to express society’s wrongly perceived lack of value of certain segments of our population.
My works in single use plastics has inspired me to take deep dives into the research of plastics in our natural environment and in our bodies. I show regularly with artists/activists and honor the passionate environmentalists and scientists I have worked with who study, monitor and inform the public about pollution and the subsequent climate change we are facing. Their knowledge and information they make available to us has inspired me to think deeply about change and transformation as being the essence of nature. At the heart, my work is about resiliency and the notion that we are part of nature and nothing we create can be separate from nature. I want my sculpture to remind viewers that we are all connected and to inspire appreciation for the beauty and mystery of life.
COLLECTION: WORKS IN CORRUGATED CARDBOARD
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COLLECTION: PAINTINGS
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PRESS
'Flow' Moves in at the Independence Seaport Museum
Interview with Simone Spicer
Live Segment with NBC10 Philadelphia
Studio Interview 2021: Simone Spicer
”Plastic Galactic” commissioned by the Philadelphia International Airport, 2021
ArtShow with Simone Spicer
Host Craig Stover interviews Simone Spicer about her artwork, September 2022
Highlights Include:
Water Atrocities
Written By Susan Hoffman Fishman
Installation view of FEMA: Fear Environmental Mayhem Ahead, Icebox Project Space in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2020 © Photo courtesy of Icebox Project Space
NY exhibit 'Earth on the Edge' weaves wonder, dread into mesmerizing art
Written by Jim McDermott
The End of the Age of Innocence on the Great Wave of Kanagawa by Simone Spicer © Photo by Jim McDermott
Embracing the Earth, Reflecting the Science
Written by Abby Luby
© Simone Spicer, Convergence Installation, Plastic gallon milk jugs, LED lights, motorized pump, water, 80 x 80 x 72 inches, 2019
© Simone Spicer, Bountiful Harvest Installation, Painted corrugated cardboard and plastic, fluorescent spray paint, popcorn, cheese curls, ruffles chips, 11 x 11 x 9 feet, 2012
To acquire artwork from Simone Spicer’s collection, email info@amiepotsicartadvisory.com.
Click here to download Simone Spicer’s CV.
To learn more about the artist: www.simonespicer.com.
Banner Image: © Simone Spicer, Igloo (detail), Plastic gallon milk jugs, LED lights, 51 x 60 x 60 inches, 2012
Installation at Woodmere Museum of Art, Philadelphia PA
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