Emmett Moore: Fracture

On display are sculptures and panels that reference Moore’s design practice and the formal qualities of modernist and Minimalist sculpture, while taking visual cues from Miami’s environs. The title of the exhibition refers to the surfaces of the forms, but also hints phonetically at the combination of fractal and architecture.

At the center of the show is a series of wall-mounted concrete panels that are folded to mimic architectural elements. Using the one-foot square concrete block as a starting point (such as those seen in Florida’s iconic breeze-block designs), Moore makes simple variations—crease lines, bevel cuts, 45-degree rotations—to create a wall sculpture. In a second series, grids of white mortar tiles are carefully interrupted at certain angles, to appear fractured but to fit seamlessly together in a system of junctures and unions. Both of these series are made with a unique material cocktail that includes cement, water-based resin, fiberglass, and colored dye.

Also on view is a panel made from overlapping layers of perforated stainless steel, offset at an angle to create disorienting visual effects. The most direct reference to architecture is a pair of sculptures that mimic steel awnings, featuring just the metal armature with out any fabric covering, freestanding in the middle of the gallery.

Fracture displays Moore’s flexibility as a producer of objects. Hesitant to differentiate between art and design, he recalibrates structures in a way that is not immediately recognizable. This show expands his scope as it finds him focusing on architecture in addition to the design objects he is best known for. Looking atarchitects such as Carlo Scarpa, and Minimalist artists such as Frank Stella, Moore takes an economy of materials and production techniques to generate these works. Fracture explores how systems—industrial, geometric, utilitarian—are formed, break down, and can be transformed into something new.