Actual Size Artworks (Gail Simpson / Aris Georgiades) | Magical Thinking | 2019

Photography: Kevin J. Miyazaki / Sculpture Milwaukee 

In his personal work, Aris Georgiades explores issues as diverse as male identity, labor economics and the landscape created in our post-industrial economy. Gail Simpson is focused on the conflict between the natural and built environment, using found or on-site materials for much of her work. Under the name Actual Size Artworks, they collaborate on a wide range of public art projects, creating human-scale sculptures that enhance and highlight the context for the works in public spaces such as libraries, a baseball stadium, an outdoor nature trail, a streetcar stop or a fire station. These social spaces allow the artists to touch a diverse range of residents and visitors, bringing complex artistic ideas to non-arts audiences.

There is a playful political dimension to most of the artist’s projects. Wind socks in the shape of pointing fingers shift direction based on the invisible wind; a giant piggy bank built like the Trojan Horse suggests the perils of the banking system; giant signs in languages of the community create a visual cacophony while celebrating the diversity of our immigrant country. Their interactive works in particular allow for public interaction and prolonged contemplation, which creates a moment of calm in our frenetic modern world.

For Sculpture Milwaukee, Actual Size Artworks present Magical Thinking, a life-size up-turned top hat, part of any magician’s repertoire of tricks. A magician’s patter misdirects the audience's’ attention away from the slight-of-hand, allowing the magician to do any number of fantastical plays involving animals, cards or scarves. Actual Size Artworks’ piece takes on a more ominous tone because the bunny inside the hat is glowering at the world around her. Is the bunny angry because of the misdirection and sleight-of-hand happening in our political climate? 

This cheeky work reminds us that Bugs Bunny, that über cartoon sophisticate, uses adult humor in his child-oriented shenanigans. Just like Bugs, Actual Size Artworks cloaks their pointed meanings within the envelope of family-friendly cheer.