In life, it is not always the loudest who is most important, but sometimes the silent, calculating person in the background, surrounded by an air of mystery. Nature is created in whispers. We sleep, and slow, nearly silent changes occur. We awake to stumble upon them as if they were always there. Gossamer strands hang across a walkway with little concern for who must pull them from their faces. Upright leaves curl slowly in the darkness, only to reach for the morning light. We never hear the sounds. We are oblivious to the swooshing of the swinging spider, the stretching and the splitting of cells. We only see the result?and even then, these quiet changes are mostly ignored. Their power, the essence of their existence, is rarely taken into consideration.
To subvert the ordinary, to upend perception, and to shift the focus is the aim of the work of Michael Anthony Simon. In Loud Whispers, the power is given back to the quiet and oft unnoticed. Through forcing the viewer to reconsider something seen as insignificant it changes their relationship to it. This is akin to the relationship that Simon has to the act of creation itself. It would be far too simple for him to photograph something that most would see as perfectly acceptable subject matter. Most would be perfectly happy to create a painting of a nature scene and render it in vibrant colors. This is not the process by which Simon works. The simple or the obvious is never enough. He is a painter who refuses show his hand in the work. He would much rather quietly and diligently create works that are conversations with the idea of painting, than loudly proclaim that they are. His works have a subtle magic that speaks in a booming voice his ideas on what a painting can be; or, for that matter, what art can do.
The photographs of spider webs with menacing faces never seem frivolous even as they make use of the ubiquitous image of the smiley face or skull. Those glaring visages the face confront and challenge the viewer, never allowing them to enter into the photo, forcing them to interact with it as one would the flat depthlessness of a painting. Though steeped rising or falling very sharply in whimsy sense of humor, this work is never silly. The bright, painterly colors and odd juxtapositions between the ephemeral images and the objects themselves draw attention to the work, meanwhile asking the viewer to contemplate the work not only as art, but as metaphor?metaphor for our interaction with nature, foremost our indifference to it. Simon's work challenges us through acts of disruption. Spiders rendered homeless, plant leaves suffocated, unable to transpire, giving them a booming voice, shouting at us to take notice of something outside ourselves.
Courtesy of UNC Gallery
