NinaJohnson

Emmett Moore lives small so that his art can live large. Far from a starving artist, the 26-year-old simply prefers to live within his means.

“Committing to being an artist is a financial commitment,” Moore says, explaining why he would rather spend his money on art materials than rent. (He pays less than $1,000 a month for his studio and makeshift home.)

Moore dreams of one day living in a house completely furnished with works of his own design. Nina Johnson-Milewski of Gallery Diet arranged to show the world some of those works in a curated exhibit at Design Miami this year. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Moore has also exhibited at the RISD Museum, the Frost Art Museum, the Miami Art Museum and Locust Projects. And up until mid-October, the Bass Museum had displayed his Points of Pine chevron-shaped wooden sculpture that served both as a tribute to Frank Stella and a place for visitors to lounge on in the museum sculpture garden.

Heavily influenced by Marcel Duchamp, Moore repurposes readymade objects, such as turning a trash receptacle on its side for a bench and storage unit. He also redesigns them in different materials, such as the pop-top cans he recreates out of cast aluminum, with the idea of making the seemingly disposable more permanent.

For now, Moore lives in an 8- by 20-foot room, complete with kitchen and shower, which he built inside a Little River warehouse. It reminds him of the boats he likes to go on with girlfriend and competitive sailor Sarah Newberry, who aspires to represent the United States during the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

As with a boat, Moore says he knows where everything is in his small studio. And that’s a good thing because there’s a lot to take in. There’s a cockatoo with a red bandana that has pride of place on an Eileen Grey end table near the entry. There are the Emeco chairs he liberated from an abandoned hospital. There’s a 1940s couch that he reupholstered in black-and-white houndstooth fabric. There’s also a glass coffee table laden with curiosities that include a bucking bronco toy that fascinates his pet cat, Prim.

The sleek black cat comes when called and plays fetch with her toys. She is the perfect companion for a sailor on shore leave.

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