BEST OF MIAMI® /// ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT /// Best Artist 2015
A room partition decorated with busty beach babes. A love seat constructed out of concrete dividers. Planters made of South Florida earth and tiny treasures, like action figures, that the artist himself dug up. Emmett Moore's exhibit at Design Miami last year brought peak 305 flair to the art fair — and cemented the gallery representing him, Gallery Diet, as the first Miami-based space to earn a spot at Design Miami in its ten-year history. Miami Art Week 2014 may have been the first time that out-of-towners discovered Moore's work, but locals in the know have been familiar with the sculptor and designer's simple, striking creations for years. Sometimes they're functional, like his artfully designed chairs and shelves. (Moore studied furniture design at RISD.) Sometimes they're abstract, like pieces of plywood digitally printed with trippy designs. And often they reference the city Moore calls home, whether through the outline of a pair of sunglasses he installed on Gallery Diet's exterior or the sign he rescued from Miami Marine Stadium and folded into a sculpture, which was on view at Swampspace last year. Moore applies his restrained taste to Miami's outrageous ambiance, and the result is a body of work that'll inspire you to see the city in a new light.