That Tuma’s severely detailed pieces are themselves constructed from details is a matter of fact. But his reducing details to their essence is not a reduction at all; it’s an expansion. Tuma strips a thing down to its core in order to find its larger potential.

If all that sounds kinda like a merry-go-run-around, well, that’s partly because there’s something exponentially dizzying about Tuma’s compounding details. But it’s also because there’s so much vivid detail in Tuma’s work that one tends to stumble over sentences when attempting to describe its components — and its effect. Thankfully Tuma himself has no such difficulty with the narrative, even if it did arise by accident.

“It’s becoming clearer and clearer I’m developing my own language. I began with something rudimentary — the ABCs of symmetry — and with each show the vocabulary gets larger and larger.”

Tracking back through that vivid splendor one sees an artist begin by ripping the lid off what’s commonly envisioned (“Roof Less” 2009), stepping outside of himself for a more bucolic view of the urban world (“Garden” 2010), and re-imagining a proverbial City on the Hill (“Metropolis” 2011). Like the echoes upon echoes explicit in the details of each of Tuma’s pieces, the exhibits themselves possessed a thematic refraction. Each was spectacular in its own right; yet they were also unified. And one could easily believe they belonged to a single series.

With “SYM CITY” that thematic refraction — and the consistency — has multiplied considerably. Where there once were a pair of mirroring images, those images now are legion. Like Sol Lewitt (who Tuma cites as an influence), there’s a conceptual depth to the new works; like Oscar Niemeyer (whose shadow helped form the Sao Paolo born Tuma), there’s also a Modernist glean. The symmetry that serves as the basis for “SYM CITY” may have sprung from an inanimate speck of something, but it comes to represent everything under the sun.

Like Tuma’s previous collections, “SYM CITY” will be featured at Miami’s Butter Gallery. Only this time the show will run coincident with Art Basel and inaugurate Butter’s brand new headquarters in the wilds West of Wynwood. Tuma’s relationship with gallerist Francisco de la Torre is second only to the one he was privileged to share with the late, great Tony Goldman, a man who left his stamp on everyone he met.

“Tony was so very important to me and my work.” says Tuma. “He was inspiring, constructive, supportive, and I feel so privileged to have had so many conversations with him over the last four years. It was almost a mentorship.”

Considering Tuma’s eye for what’s prized about imagery, his capacity to create what he envisions, and his respect for the form as well as the process, it’s little wonder he has the support of folks like De La Torre and Goldman. With “SYM CITY”, that support will undoubtedly go global.

by John Hood

Yuri Tuma “SYM CITY” opens December 4th, 7pm-Midnight at Butter Gallery 2930 NW 7th Ave Miami. For more information Butter Gallery &/or Yuri Tuma

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