San Carlo Cremona is pleased to present Arthur Simms, “I Am The Bush Doctor, One Halo.” , the first show of 2023 to be held in the 17th-century deconsecrated church of San Carlo at Via Bissolati 33, Cremona. San Carlo Cremona renews the collaboration with Servane Mary who invites artists to exhibit in the space. Each exhibition is a site-specific solo presentation of an artist’s work. For over three decades, Arthur Simms has developed a singular approach to assemblage, producing a prolific body of sculpture, as well as dimensional paintings and works on paper. Born in Saint Andrew, Jamaica (1961), Simms was inspired in early childhood by the improvisationally constructed carts he saw transporting goods to and from the market (he lived in Kingston until age 7, when his family moved to New York). Simms developed a fluency with this sort of construction— clearly articulating a singular object from many disparate elements—and by the 1990s added hemp as both a practical binding agent and source of formal unison that would become his trademark. Bound by hemp, and by the late 90s, wire, Simms’ sculptures contain natural material, found objects and items of autobiographical significance—spanning a vast diversity of forms. Some sculptures stand monumentally as opaque accumulations of twine; others are wrapped in bare networks of wire, their contents clearly legible.

At once many and whole, rife with art and world historical references, Simms’ sculptures both capture a breadth of cultural information and reflect the fractured, diffusive effects of the diasporic experience. Invited to create an installation for San Carlo Cremona, Simms exhibits sculptures and drawings inspired by the 17th century church. Several of the works are created specifically for the site. Historically, Simms’s work has dealt with the spiritual, scale, light and reflection. This installation gives Simms the opportunity to explore all these themes in a unique environment. Works exhibited include the sculpture “La Luce”, the tallest indoor piece that the artist has ever created and “I Am The Bush Doctor, One Halo.”, a drawing from which the show gets its title. At four meters long, it is the tallest drawing that the artist has made. The title of the exhibition, “I Am The Bush Doctor, One Halo.”, references Simms’ native Jamaica where bush doctors are individuals who concoct home remedies to treat physical ailments. Simms has used the halo – a potent symbol in both religion and art history – when titling his drawings, often referring its mere shape while reflecting on its iconography.