Looming 40-feet-tall over the High Line at 16th Street, a location marked with visible remnants of the High Line’s industrial and wild past, Arthur Simms’ A Totem for the High Line. stands as a fitting monument to memory and history.

In addition to materials that have become core to his body of work—wood, rope, and personal objects—A Totem for the High Line. also speaks directly to its site, both on the High Line and in New York City. The work incorporates a decommissioned utility pole found on Randall’s Island, assorted cables, and discarded license plates from various states. By integrating these elements, Simms continues his practice of entangling and reusing objects to emphasize the various histories and meanings they carry. The work stands as an homage to transformation and the perpetual unfolding of our past, present, and future.

Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, sat down with Simms to dig into his inspiration and artistic process.

Cecilia Alemani: You’ve talked about your first encounter with the idea of being an artist when you started school in the US and how that tied back to your memories of crafting and making toys as a younger child in Jamaica. Could you tell us more about this experience and your path to becoming an artist?
Arthur Simms: When I was a child in Jamaica and even now, people would use found resources to make things. For example, rather than buying a little cart to take to the market to sell one’s wares, one would make their own cart. I picked up on that as a child. Seeing this and experimenting with this concept is where I developed my love for creativity. I would make these little objects and all sorts of toys out of found materials: bows and arrows, slingshots, kites, toy soldiers, and so on. Now I have the perspective to realize that this was the beginnings of me becoming an artist and that it reflected on cultural aspects of everyday life in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1960s.

Are there artists who have inspired you or influenced you?
The modernist Marcel Duchamp’s use of ordinary objects as “readymade” works of art holds a special place in my complex process. I am also inspired by Surrealism’s uses of automatism, disjunction, and reliance on the unconscious. Although based largely on intuition, my process does not exclude formal decisions.

As a young artist in the 1980s, I found great inspiration in works by Robert Rauschenberg, Jackie Winsor, Martin Puryear, Constantine Brancusi, Brice Marden, and Cy Twombly as they presented me with endless possibilities and various materials to create my own work. I must also credit my college professors who helped me to form who I have become as an artist. They are: Sylvia Stone, Lois Dodd, Lee Bontecou, Allan D’Arcangelo, William T. Williams, Ron Mehlman, and Sam Gelber.

In addition, I must add all the influences that I have gained through my travels over the years. One such recent influence is the Japanese artist Kobayashi Toan, whose work I encountered at the National Museum in Tokyo.

Through my study of art history and world history, and my traveling to different cultures, I am able to piece together everything as a whole to create my unique and personal language.

How did the High Line as a site play into the creation of this artwork?
After being invited to make a piece for the High Line and having toured the site, I knew that I wanted to create a Totem piece that would dialogue with the skyline of New York City.

Can you tell us more about the title of the work?
The title refers to what the work itself is, literally a totem for the High Line. The period at the end of the title is part of the structure of the title itself.

Could you tell us more about the objects you’ve woven into A Totem for the High Line.—what are they, how did you acquire them, and why these items?
There are light reflectors that are placed throughout the sculpture, which reference the notion of the spiritual. Where there is light and light reflection, evil cannot pass. This is taken from fables that are prevalent in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Black South. License plates and divergent types of rope, with varying colors are woven into the makeup of the sculpture. When light hits the work, different colors will emanate from inside the sculpture. The varying colors and types of rope give the piece a layered depth that draws attention to different parts of the sculpture. The license plates reference the fact that the High Line was a hub for bringing goods to the city. I purchased some of the materials. The license plates were gifted to me by friends. People like to give me their old junk knowing that I might use them in my sculptures.

Many of your sculptural works use rope to bind various elements together. How did you come to use rope in your work, and what role does the material or the process of knotting it play in your practice?
I began using rope in the late 1980s. My inspiration came from Jackie Windsor’s Postminimalist work that is in the collection of MoMA, Bound Square. I had seen this work many times as a student and it always perplexed me. When I needed a unifying element to bind works together and to also act as a skin, I thought of the use of rope in Bound Square. I tried it and it worked for me. Also, the rope that I initially used to bind the early works together was hemp. Hemp has a long history in Jamaica where I was born, imbuing the work with a strong cultural aspect.

Your artwork for the High Line involves very intricate handwork—is this intimate, hands-on process important to you and the stories you tell through your work?
Yes, it is all improvised. I must be the one creating the work. The hand of the artist is very important in my work.

Tell us about your Staten Island studio. What’s in the space to inspire you and what kinds of materials or found objects are you collecting?
In my studio, I have over 40 years of works that I have created. It’s great to see them as points of reference to inspire new works. There are also objects that I have collected or that friends, family, and colleagues have given me to use in new creations. When I go to my studio, it’s a refuge where I know that I can articulate my thoughts and ideas.

Your work towers over the city in its location on the High Line. Can you share your thoughts on how it felt to see A Totem for the High Line. at that scale and site for the first time?
Color, reflection, scale, and the thought process of how the viewer inhabits the same space and looks upon the work play a major role in the development of my work. I am so happy with the location and the scale of the work. While creating the work in my studio, one can only visualize what it will look like. When the work was being installed, I was so thrilled to finally see it in its home for the year. Every time I go by to see the work, I am always very happy and proud to have had the opportunity to create it. Thank you, Cecilia, and the entire staff at the High Line for giving me this great opportunity!

To hear more from Arthur Simms and Cecilia Alemani in person, join the conversation and book launch at Karma, New York on Tuesday, December 17 from 5 – 7pm.