Custom Inflatable Sculpture, Miami Beach Art in Public Places, Miami Beach FL 2024
Photographs: ©Zachary Balber
We Are Nice'n Easy’s interest in creating a site-specific artwork for No Vacancy in Miami Beach is rooted in the dynamic interplay between nature and culture inherent to South Florida. With a focus on public projects within their practice, Nice’n Easy believes in the transformative power of public art and works to elevate Miami’s cultural identity. For this project, they collaborated with a local fabricator specializing in custom inflatables to produce a large, custom outdoor grade inflatable composed of intersecting oversized pool floats of flamingos, sea turtles, dolphins, alligators, and palm trees. The work, titled “Soft Squeeze”, is wedged high above the ground between two walls of a Miami Beach alleyway. This playful creation is suspended by cables however seemingly compressed, creating a visual tension that highlights the clash and fusion of natural and cultural elements. As viewers move around and underneath the artwork, the recognizable shapes shift and merge, creating an ever-evolving visual narrative that reflects the fluidity and complexity of Miamis’ subtropical environment. This work not only captures the playful spirit of Miami Beach but also prompts deeper reflection on how cultural artifacts and natural habitats coexist and influence one another.
Installation, Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, Jackson West Medical Center, Doral FL 2022
Photographs: ©Zachary Balber
Pool Party (Jackson West Medical Center), is part of a series of installations by We Are Nice’n Easy LLC consisting of groupings of mirror works from the artists “Pool Personas” series. Pool Personas are a numbered edition of mirrors in the shapes of 16 swimming pools with smiley faces cut out of the middle of the shape. Each edition of 16 shapes is produced using a different color of acrylic mirror and currently exist in 4 different sizes, Large, medium, small and mini. “Pool Party” installations are comprised of Pool Persona mirrors in different sizes, shapes and colors together as one installation. The mirrors reflect the faces and surroundings of the viewer while centering the viewing experience on the smiley face carved from the negative space. Each shape is personified with its own smiley face reflective of each individuals unique personality. This individuality is then magnified by the varying colors and sizes. These installations are eclectic, joyful groupings that can take infinite forms.
Installation, Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, Jackson West Medical Center, Doral FL 2022
Photographs: ©Zachary Balber
Reflection Pool (Elongated Kidney / 2064 Smoke Gray), is part of a series of wall sculptures collectively titled “Reflection Pools” by the collaborative group We Are Nice’n Easy LLC. These works are made of colored acrylic mirror and take the form of swimming pool shapes subdivided into puzzle like pieces by a undulating pattern defining the negative space. The mirror shapes float off the wall with standoffs creating subtle shadows sometimes tinted with colored light reflecting off of the backside of the work. While the overall shape of the work based off of swimming pool architecture evokes a sense of well defined parameters and organization the inner undulating shapes are freeform and organic without a clearly defined logic but rather suggestive of an inner intuition. The surrounding environment reflected in the mirror pieces becomes disjointed and abstract alluding to the distortion of forms when looking through the lens of water. The choice of color of each work in the series also contributes to the particular mood of the work, ultimately providing the viewer with an experience suspended between formalism, expressionism and realism.
Installation, Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, Jackson West Medical Center, Doral FL 2022
Photographs: ©Zachary Balber
Ripple is the final state in the evolution of a line drawing explored through material. Originating in 2017, various paper drafts were translated into clay models, which were then redrawn and used as a template for a wire maquette. The maquette was then traced onto paper, scanned and digitally traced, finally, this drawing was projected in sections to scale onto a table as a template to bend aluminum tubing in the creation of the final work. In each translation there were subtle and sometimes drastic changes to the line, at times the result of a design decision reflecting our aesthetic and other times the result of a physical limitation of the material. This extended process forged a relationship between artist and artwork where compromise became a fundamental building block for its creation and for the artists’ ability to realize the piece. The artwork speaks to a balance between order and chaos, freedom and control, through its final form as well as through the process by which it was made. As it exists at the entrance of Jackson West Hospital, our hope is that it evokes something of the liminal space between sincere intention, determination and the serenity of letting go.
This artwork is part of the collection of Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places program, made possible with the support of the Art in Public Places Trust, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
Solo show, Club Gallery, Miami FL 2022
photographs: ©zachary balber
Mirror acrylic and MDF
Enamel on mirror / Mirror Acrylic and MDF
cast resin
Acrylic and resin, 36 x 54 inches
Resin, acrylic, steel / Polyester resin and aluminum / Oil on Canvas
oil on canvas, 60 x 36 inches
oil on canvas, 49 x 49 inches
Upon initial inspection, the viewer is absorbed, as the title denotes, into a Happy Place. The exhibition notably features a salon style installation of 32 individual pieces. The shapes are derived from a variety of different pool designs popular during the ‘70’s & ‘80’s. The medium is a reflective acrylic, allowing the viewer to see one’s self while also facing a playful smiley face cut out. The faces were hand drawn by the artist's eldest daughter, Heron, creating unique personas within each pool. This work becomes a powerful meditation on Lacanian psychology and exploring the boundaries of one's persona or self.
True to Allison Matherly and Jeffrey Noble's synergetic ethos, they joyously yet rigorously investigate themes of their own interpersonal relationship as coupled artists. The exhibition will feature two self portraits of the artists, Innerchild 1(Allison) & Innerchild 2(Jeffrey). The portraits, painted from childhood photographs, capture the artists centered within innertubes. Matherly depicted in a relaxed pose, elegantly yet pensively enjoying her surroundings, while Noble adopts a more maximalist posture engulfed in pool accouterments. These works add to the artists tradition of casting themselves into their work as the sole figurative models.
The exhibition aims to engage and excite audiences to interact with the work as well as one's own inner work. By indulging in South Florida iconography and the tropes of leisure, We Are Nice’n Easy presents an environment where there is no pretension around how deep one chooses to dive.
installation, museum of contemporary art north miami, north miami fl, 2021
photographs: ©zachary balber
In this ongoing collection of sculptural works, we examine the fluid metrics of psycho-spiritual wellness philosophies, their usefulness/uselessness/misuse and the individual’s role in utilizing such philosophies to arrive at states of denial, escapism or surrender.
Relying on two classical motifs in art history- the figure in a state of emotional distress and the totem, we refer to the historical canon eliciting a connection to accepted ideologies and beliefs, for our purposes, directed at the culture of self-help and wellness. Through the use of kitsch objects and ironic configurations, we subvert the romantic, stoic, ecstatic or sublime notions of the classical forms and re-contextualize them with humor and a democratized vernacular. In turn, the philosophies of self-help and wellness are critiqued yet not entirely abandoned.
The sculptures, comprised of bodily appendages and pool floats, perform as metaphors for the various dynamics of an individuals relation to life philosophies. A donut shaped innertube echoes the shape of the universe as posited by physicists, while a cast butt directed upwards inherently suggests a head stuck in the sand. We see these works functioning as a sculptural meme, playing off of our collective ability to acknowledge the profundity of any moment of existence before pivoting back into a posture of ironic complacency.
In essence, we are attempting to navigate the line from when a mystic truth becomes a banal platitude, when an entire nation’s collective mental health is reduced to a meme, and if a shallow pop-culture trope can function as a vehicle for transcendent reflection?
Installation, Locust Projects, Miami Design District Pop-Up 2022. Vinyl Soft Sculptures, Poly-fil, MDF, Aluminum, Monitors, NFT videos
Installation, Mad Arts, Fort Lauderdale FL, 2023. Vinyl Soft Sculptures, Poly-fil, MDF, Aluminum, Monitors, NFT videos
Comfort Zone is an interactive, physical lounge space performing as a simulacrum of a swimming pool. The installation hosts a collection of pool float soft sculptures and their corresponding NFTs, collectively titled Handle with Care. The soft sculptures function as a physical artifact, while the NFTs function not only as a digital artwork featuring the sculpture, but also as a certificate of authenticity by being registered on the blockchain. Building off of the idea of the swimming pool as a placeholder for the self or persona, the pool float sculptures serve as metaphors for ideas, beliefs and affirmations adopted by the individual in the construction of their identity. While “real” pool floats, filled with air, may allude to the fragility or emptiness of said beliefs, the imitation pool float soft sculptures allow these platitudes to appear more concrete, easier to grasp and provide comfort. In this way, they are more “real” than their inflatable counterparts. The video works feature these soft sculptures played on a loop on multiple screens embedded in the installation. The repetitious aspect of these works present a simulation of the process of thinking through, feeling out, or mulling over one's ideas and beliefs in an attempt to fully understand and reaffirm them.
billboard, bass museum, miami beach fl 2020
U Want It is a two part work by We are Nice’n Easy LLC that builds off the artists’ interest in advertising and the subtle taboos of intimate relationships. The visual component comprises two photographic works depicting the artists in a romanticized Miami Beach setting. The sentiment evoked by the imagery is contrasted by text overlying the images reading: “Are you faking it?” and “Can’t stop thinking about it?” These anxious questions are accompanied by the phone number (855) U WANT IT which connects the caller to the second component of the work- an audio recording by the artists. The script is composed of a heterogeneous mixture of generic self-help mantras, affirmations and sexual innuendos that often form contradictory responses to ambiguous reflection and questions posed towards the nature of “IT.” Together, the two components play off of each other to perform a sort of a “bait and switch.” Drawing upon viewers/callers imaginations and latent desires to fill the vague mental space held by “IT,” allusions can be made towards achieving lofty life goals and ambitions or merely perusing sexual gratification.
WOMAN’S VOICE
I know you want it
It’s worth the effort
Everything you want is coming.
It’s up to you IF you get it
MAN’S VOICE
I never understood why everyone wanted it
WOMAN’S VOICE
It’s going to be so good to get it
Are you ready for it?
MAN’S VOICE
It was always such a mystery
WOMAN’S VOICE
Do you feel it? Feel like it’s real for you?
Be specific on what you want
MAN’S VOICE
I never stop wanting it
WOMAN’S VOICE
You just have to wait for it and expect it to come
Just relax in your wanting
MAN’S VOICE
When I don’t have it, I pretend that I do
WOMAN’S VOICE
You have to believe it
If you try too hard you’ll keep resisting it
MAN’S VOICE
I always felt like it was natural to want it
WOMAN’S VOICE
Do you have a plan to get it?
If it doesn’t come, you didn’t try hard enough
MAN’S VOICE
I don’t think about anything else when I get it
WOMAN’S VOICE
Just don’t think about it
What’s meant for you will come easily
MAN’S VOICE
I’ve heard how others get it but I think it might be different for everyone
WOMAN’S VOICE
If you want it, it’s already yours
You’ve got it
Allow it to come to you
MAN’S VOICE
Sometimes I fake it to make other people feel better
WOMAN’S VOICE
Don’t try too hard
Act like it’s already yours
Stay positive
MAN’S VOICE
I’m always thinking, what is the fastest way to get it?
WOMAN’S VOICE
Be realistic
Don’t focus on reality
Expect it to come
Focus on the present moment
MAN’S VOICE
Sometimes I think if I just get it everything will be better
Installation, Young At Art Museum, Davie FL 2019
photographs: ©zachary balber
Billboard, Commuter Biennial, Florida City FL 2019
Billboard, Commuter Biennial, Hialeah Gardens, FL 2019
Audio recording of a custom driving meditation that played when you called the number on the billboard.
Sculpture, FREE! Art Fair, Miami FL, 2018
Photograph: ©Diana Larrea
Installation, FAU Galleries, South Florida Cultural Consortium, Boca Raton FL, 2018
Photographs: ©Zachary Balber
furniture and video installation, Locust Projects, Miami FL, 2017
Photographs: ©Zachary Balber, courtesy of Locust Projects
Walgreens storefront installation, Bass Projects, Bass Museum’s public art program, Miami Beach FL, 2016
Paintings and furniture, &Gallery, Miami FL, 2017
water fountain bench and custom neon
furniture and painting, 2016
furniture and paintings, 2016
