An animal inside of his brain tells Simi Dabah what to do. He is not in control, the images come to him. The images turn into monumental iron sculptures, some 30 feet tall, at the rate of 50 or 60 a year. Simi is 89 years old. He’s been making these monumental sculptures for 40 years in his backyard in Joshua Tree. The sculptures are simultaneously reminiscent of minimal Piet Mondrian paintings and primitive cave drawings.

He scavenges the iron from scrap yards in Los Angeles. Simi and his partner Julie invite me into their modest and minimal desert home. We sit and chat about life, how to be who we want to be, how to make money and follow our passions. I am inspired by his life, his way with materials, his inability to not make art.

Talking to him about the function of art in our current world reminds me of one of my favorite books, The Gift, by Lewis Hyde, which is all about how artists create work that falls outside of the dominant capitalistic mode of exchange. Creativity is joyful, and the act of giving something away ties an object to a person and a process. Simi has donated sculptures to the town of Yucca Valley, the town of 29 Palms, the Motel 6 in 29 Palms, Copper Mountain College (he has a whole sculpture garden there), College of the Desert, The Hi-Desert Medical Center, and more. His style is unmistakable. I see his work everywhere.

Simi and Julie spend most of their time in Los Angeles, where Simi welds the sculptures in an alleyway studio where he has a forklift, a truck, and an assistant, Bob.

Simi and Julie walk me outside to see his 700+ sculptures. The wind hits my face and my eyes water — I’m reminded of my late Fall days picking apples in Vermont. Julie remarks, "they blend into the landscape, reflect the desert browns and tans, space…." The more I spend time with them, the more I feel their scale, their freedom, their purity.

*The Simi Dabah Sculpture Foundation recently formed as a 501c3 and is moving forward with their mission to place Simi’s sculptures in as many public sites as possible.

5255 Sunfair Rd, Joshua Tree, CA 92252