Emmett Moore’s Puzzle-Like Shapes and Steel Sculptures

Last month, Gallery Diet in Miami hosted a selection of Emmett Moore’s recent work unified by a theme of fracture. The Miami-based artist and designer created steel sculptures and tangram-like configurations consisting of concrete, resin, and fiberglass. His freestanding, minimalist sculptures provided a lovely visual contrast to geometric, wall-mounted pieces painted blue, brick-red, and earthy brown.

While some of Moore’s works look like puzzles begging to be solved, other pieces recall bathroom tiles ripped from the floor and rearranged in alluring patterns. A 2016 series homes in on the poetic potential of construction materials, particularly mortar, as well as the visual power of gridded lines, which can toy with multidimensionality while skewing the perception of space. For instance, with its monochromatic color palette and harsh, perpendicular lines, Split Plan (2016) calls to mind a Brutalist building.

Meanwhile, the steel piece Moiré Perforation 2° (2016) is perforated with scores of round holes, the interplay of which generates a strong illusionary effect. Double Barrel (2016) also features a dance between positive and negative space, this time with red-painted steel that extends into multiple planes. There’s something playful about the mechanistic sculpture—a dynamic tension that undergirds much of Moore’s varied practice.