The Miracle of Burano, the first Los Angeles solo exhibition of sculptor Arthur Simms, is on view now at Karma Gallery in WeHo. The exhibition brings together works from the 1990s through the present, many of which have never before been exhibited. 

“Arthur Simms has created a multivalent body of work over the course of his decades-long practice. He works with found objects, often enclosing them in bundles of hemp and wire. Assembling everyday items such as toys, thread spools, glass bottles, feathers, and bricks, Simms creates poetic and unexpected associations between these various materials.”

[Hemp rope] “has become his signature, wrapped like mesh around the disparate objects he has collected for years, making his entire oeuvre appear to be the giant collection of a well-traveled fisherman, rescuing lost items from the sea.” 

There are pieces dealing with his personal experiences, like “Chester, Alice, Marcia, Erica and Arthur Take a Ride,” from 1993 — a sculpture in the form of a vessel, referencing his family’s journey from Jamaica to the U.S.

The artist in his studio in Staten Island, amid his collected objects. Postcards of Caravaggio paintings are tacked to a shelf, with feathers at left. Bicycle tires reflect his childhood love of wheels and movement. Credit...George Etheredge for The New York Times

“Roman Soldier,” 2010. Skate, wood, wire, rope, nails, screws, metal, stones, putty, at Karma. Credit...via Arthur Simms and Karma