Earl's Pearls: GUEST CONTRIBUTOR: ARTIST ALETTE SIMMONS-JIMENEZ

I met Alette when she invited me to show some of my art at her gallery in Miami during Art Basel week quite a few years ago. One of my pieces was a signboard that read:

MY GOD

BETTER

THAN

YOUR GOD

Alette placed this signboard outside the front door to her gallery, but because of numerous complaints she had to remove it and keep it inside for the duration of the show. So much for “artistic freedom”.

One of my pieces sold, but at a discount - - - so what else is new, but we did a landslide business in selling my first book, “ How To Become A Famous Artist” which was a spoof on parts of the Contemporary Art World. It was eagerly purchased by artists in the area as a “How To” book and is now a collector’s item (but I have a few left if you want to buy one.)

During Art Basel week I got to meet a chef who was opening up a restaurant a few doors from Alette’s studio. His name was Michael Schwartz. He went on to become a famous and celebrated chef and I slid further into obscurity.

But, back to our featured guest, Alette Simmons-Jimenez. Here’s a little background.

Alette was born in Madison, Wisconsin; she received a BFA from Newcomb Memorial College of Tulane University in New Orleans. Upon graduation she began her professional career in the Dominican Republic where she resided and worked for 18 years.

The artist attributes her varied interests to her nomadic military family upbringing. In every foreign city, survival tactics used as a child made her comfortable with constant change and an astute observer of nuances in social behavior. Her work focuses on states of belonging and captivity and addresses the significance of human existence with undertones of absurdity that play along as humanity attempts to balance negotiations with nature.

She has won several fellowships and grants for her work including 1st Prize in Video, at The XVIII National Biennial, Museo De Arte Moderno. She has been represented internationally by private galleries and has exhibited in museums, universities, art fairs, and media festivals and is currently preparing work for her solo exhibit to open fall of 2013 at the Center Gallery of Miami-Dade College.

Articles including her work have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers. Recently the artist was selected as a Miami New Times "100 Creatives", and she was included in the book "Miami Contemporary Artists", and was twice selected for "New American Paintings", once featured on the cover.

Simmons-Jimenez is also the founder of Artformz, an artist run project dedicated to artistic collaborations.

I’ve selected a few of her works to include in this piece.

"Walk-In #5 Sound Garden" an audience participatory installation. Guests can enter the "faux" garden placed in the middle of a highly active public space. Unobserved from the outside, in a moment of peace and tranquility, sitting on garden chairs listening to an audio component via headphones they watch the ongoing activities of others through the semi transparent structure.

DETAIL of above: "Fiddle-Dee-Dee" a birdbath filled with a metaphor. The spiraling rat race scurries to run up a ladder to nowhere. Placed in the middle of Walk-In #5

'Walk-In #88, Suspended Spiral" an audience participatory installation. Polystyrene Cords, turned aluminum, blue filtered lights. The work is a spacial experience - guests are invited to walk into the center of the spiral.

"Falling Suspensions" Sneak peek to and upcoming solo exhibit in fall of 2013 at Miami-Dade College - digital sketch of in progress installation of suspended woven wire forms - some illuminated.