Danica Sunbeam, an exhibition of new work by Emmett Moore, includes a series of functional sculpture and design objects primarily made of T-shirt fabric. With his singular approach to materials and process, Moore has created a thrilling, unexpected body of work that responds both to Constructivist and Modernist design sensibilities, as well as the global flow of commodities.
Moore sourced the shirts in bulk from used-clothing wholesalers. These businesses, which operate out of warehouses in Miami’s industrial neighborhoods, sell donated or trashed garments for pennies a pound. The clothes are graded in terms of quality, then turned to rags or exported to different markets across the globe, where they are sorted and resorted, sold and resold. From his home on the Miami River, Moore watched freighters taking shipping containers filled with bushels of clothing to the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and beyond. Moore takes the name of the exhibition, Danica Sunbeam, from one of these vessels. Somewhere between fashion items and raw material, the T-shirts Moore selected for his pieces are soaked in a slow-drying epoxy, then wrinkled to provide structural integrity.
Emmett Moore is a Miami-based designer and artist represented by Nina Johnson Gallery. His work has been shown at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, where he is in the permanent collection, as well as the Bass Museum of Art, the Frost Art Museum, and the RISD Museum, Providence.
Opening reception, Friday September 6th, 2019 from 7-9 PM
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