CHARLES SIMONDS

Charles Simonds, American, b. 1945,Floral Font (detail),1989, Clay, wood, plaster, twelve-foot diameter, Denver Art Museum: partial gift of the Lannan Foundation and extended loan of Leo Castelli, Jim Corcoran, and Richard L. Feigen, 1989.199. A model landscape with rock formations and structures that evoke ancient civilizations. The DAM acquired Floral Font in 1989.)
SOURCE:
http://www.denverartmuseum.org/home
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa190.htm

Charles Simonds creates miniaturized environments which seem at the outset to be endowed with archeological and anthropological significance. In fact, these "sites" are actually fanciful habitats for an imaginary race Simonds refers to as the "Little People." Much of Simonds' career has been spent creating these sites, whether they are museum installations such as Ritual Place, or temporary public works, as in the small dwelling places Simonds has built on the streets of New York's Lower East Side, Venice, Berlin, Dublin, and Shanghai. Simonds has also created large public installations at various sites, including Lewiston's Artpark. Simonds' environments are built out of clay bricks and "mortar" made from Elmer's Glue and water. The clay is sprinkled with sand to give it a patina of age and tweezers are used to fit the mass-produced bricks in place. The imaginary "Little People" who never actually appear in their environments but are always implied, belong to three different types, a straight line people, a circular people, and the people of the spiral. The different races can be discerned by the way the environment is arranged.

Early
Charles Simonds 1977 clay, wood , sand, glue, twigs 7.375 x 33.75 x 34.5 - Walker Art Center
Credit Line: Purchased with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and Art Center Acquisition Fund, 1977

Later
Charles Simonds 1977 clay, wood , sand, glue, twigs 5 x 34.625 x 34 - Walker Art Center
Credit Line: Commissioned for the exhibition Scale and Environment: Ten Sculptors, 1977
SOURCE:
http://collections.walkerart.org/item/agent/509