A Little Bit of Earth
Mindy Solomon is pleased to exhibit the colorful and lively sculptural and design works of Miami based artist Autumn Casey.
Brimming with energy and positivity, like the artist herself, the show is an intimate look into the possibilities of the garden. The work on view is an amplified imagining of the creatures that dwell within the shrubs, weeds, and grasses all around us. Each object a personal reflection of the deep, innate focus the artist has on her own art practice.
“For the past few years, I have been designing illuminated sculptures that act as one of a kind functional artworks. I have been developing a signature material language by fine tuning a set of actions in the studio. Slowly handcrafted over time, my process includes welding steel, incorporating wire and other found materials, layering plaster and epoxy sculpt, painting, sewing fabrics, applying resin, and light-fittings to create colorful, indexical work based on my life experience in and around my studio practice. Every sculpture is its own emotional universe.
In Olivia Lang’s A Garden Against Time she speaks of the garden as a site that exists outside of normal life. It takes its roots in the garden of Eden, a space parallel to heaven. Over time it has become more and more the place of seclusion, of privacy and privilege. Not everyone has the same access to gardens, or even private outdoor spaces. To me having access to a dedicated studio space is akin to having my own secret garden. A privilege I do not take lightly.
A Little Bit of Earth, if we are lucky, is what we are allocated throughout our lifetimes. And collectively is what we have left, together. How do you harness the power of what you are allotted? What do you do with your incredibly special and mysterious time on this planet? What are you able to cultivate with what you are given? These are the questions I have been thinking of in relation to my studio practice.
On a daily basis, I reach deep into my spirit with the dedication of a fervent gardener. There is a constant tending to these objects as they are precious totems that equate with the sum of my life’s energy. Labor is the way I account for my agency over time. Tiling the soil of my own existence to create forms that reach for beauty. Cyclical patterns of behavior that come from locking into the rhythms of the beat of my heart, changing movement into light. Every sculpture is a labor of love, each one a gestural index of daily moods and actions, imperfectly accurate. I find that love is not a choice but a compulsion, and as the closer you get to something
you love; it expands.”
Seeing the creative process as an expansion of love, Casey brings a joyous energy to the works. With a DIY sensibility and a nod to historical Tiffany Glass, each piece has a colorful presence that inhabits space in a multitude of ways. Whether design, installation or individual object, it brings an earthiness to the viewer.
About Autumn Casey
Autumn Casey acts as a one woman-recycling center to her immediate friends and family. Using the studio as a creative system to organize the flow of life’s contents that she finds herself surrounded by. She creates one of a kind illuminated sculptures that function as lamps. With her painterly approach to sculpture, she slowly handcrafts layers over time to create forms for light to shine through.
She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the New World School of the Arts, Miami, FL. and a Masters Degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA. Her work has been shown at the Peréz Art Museum, Miami; Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA; The Future Perfect, NY ; and in many other venues. She’s completed residencies at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado and La Sierra Artist Residency in Santa Marta, Colombia. In 2022, she received a public art commission for MoCA, North Miami, to create a pair of sculptures modeled on her parents (but imagined as swans). Casey lives and works in Miami, Florida.
