© Simone Spicer, The End Of The Age Of Innocence On The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, Bas Relief papier mache tidal wave and plastic action figures riding the wave on surfboards and in boats, 8 x 8 x 3 feet, 2021
October 9, 2024
Amie Potsic interviewed artist Simone Spicer about her environmental art made from recycled materials and her solo exhibition at iMOCA in Philadelphia.
This exhibition, Past>NOW<Future, features selected sculptural works and paintings by Simone Spicer. These works together, reveal a process of evolution through experimentation with materials catalyzed by emotional response to social and environmental injustices in our time. Simone’s artwork is an extension of the Arte Povera movement and of the broader tradition of creating art from refuse throughout the 20th century and continuing today; exploiting, as Robert Rauschenberg was once quoted, “gifts from the street”. Compassion for the human condition and the belief that visual art can spur on collective healing is at the heart of Simone Spicer’s work. She says about this topic:
“I believe healing happens when the artist’s primary goal is to connect with others through shared experience, storytelling and wonderment at being alive here on planet Earth! I am drawn to materials that challenge and disrupt traditional values of commercialized art, and that reinforce my images and speak of our culture and time specifically. I am continually inspired to transform throwaway, post consumer packaging containers, as they express so much about contemporary society; our values, our habits, our technologies and our mastery over nature, while conversely reminding us of our obliviousness to the natural world and our separateness from it and from all of human history. I love materials; shapes, colors, textures, transparencies, translucencies, densities, dimension and lack of, and I want an endless supply of materials surrounding me so I always feel free to experiment. I love multiple images and repetition of form, and variations on a theme, and building methods that are curiously child-like and sophisticated. I see the empty container, or vessel as a metaphor for the self as I collaborate, this creative self, with materials that embody the mysteries of the hands and homes of others that once held them, and the mysteries of the science, technology, chemistry, and industries that created them. This is rich for me. “
Simone Spicer with her post-consumer plastic artwork. Image courtesy of the artist.
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.
Simone Spicer
Past > NOW < Future
On view from October 20 – November 10, 2024 at the Interactive Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA)
© Simone Spicer, Fallen Hero, Painted corrugated cardboard, rubble, 85 x 36 x 40 inches, 2010
© Simone Spicer, Persistence of the Heart (side view), painted corrugated cardboard and various packaging materials, 44 x 25 x 22 inches, 2024
© Simone Spicer, Piece for Peace, Painted corrugated cardboard, hanging paper cranes, 24 x 30 x 35 inches, 2010
© Simone Spicer, Street Person I, Painted corrugated cardboard, 51 x 15 x 36 inches, 2001
© Simone Spicer, Dancing Shiva on the Demon, mixed media, LED lighting, 65 x 46 x 22 inches, 202
To learn more about Simone Spicer visit, www.simonespicer.com
Banner Image: © Simone Spicer, The End Of The Age Of Innocence On The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, Bas Relief papier mache tidal wave and plastic action figures riding the wave on surfboards and in boats, 8 x 8 x 3 feet, 2021