Simone Spicer
My sculpture weaves together contemporary cultural iconography in the form of “trash” with images that speak of human nature. Sometimes I borrow themes from the history of art to elevate my chosen materials, and sometimes I am simply inspired by the trash. I use post-consumer waste to emphasize how humanity might move forward from unsustainable living and”progress” defined as disconnection from nature. I speak about trash because it will be our culture’s legacy. I use items slated for landfill to represent disposable segments of our population. I use plastic bottles because they embody lies and propaganda, and can expose the power of advertising. I have used empty containers in figural sculpture as metaphor for emptying the mind in meditation, and used it in sculptures of political figures to express empty headedness and empty promises. I use it in environmental installations to reinforce notions of time and our place in it. I think of waste unusable to earth as a measure of humanity in the present and in deep time, geologic and astronomical. I am wanting to speak of change and transformation. Mine is a process of connecting dots. My work does not provide answers, but I hope it spurs imagination.