Thursday, October 2, 2025
The West Coast of Florida's Arts & Culture Magazine
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Rocky Bridges: Transforming the Discarded into the Profound

ARTicles Gallery presents:

MIND OF THINGS

A dual exhibition of works by Rocky Bridges and ceramicist Norbert Gonsalves. Remains on view through October 31, 2025.
1234 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N.
St. Petersburg, FL

www.articlesstpete.com

A native of Tarpon Springs and a fixture in Florida’s contemporary art scene, Rocky Bridges breathes new life into forgotten debris, turning industrial cast-offs into layered narratives of resilience and renewal.

Represented by ARTicles Gallery in St. Petersburg, Bridges is renowned for his mixed-media assemblages—striking compositions constructed from repurposed materials like bulldozed museum rubble, worn-out signage, and industrial scrap. For Bridges, these fragments are not refuse but relics, artifacts of stories worth retelling.

“I’ve always been drawn to the overlooked,” says Bridges. “There’s a certain poetry in things left behind—objects that once had purpose, now waiting for new meaning.”

From Tarpon Springs to the Global Art Stage

Bridges’ creative journey began in earnest at Cooper Union in New York City, where he honed his foundational skills. Further studies at the Savannah College of Art & Design and the Art Institute of Chicago deepened his perspective, ultimately shaping his approach to the conceptual and the tactile. His work has been supported by numerous accolades, including a three-year grant from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (2000–2002), a Florida Individual Artist Fellowship, and a Fulbright Memorial Scholarship in Japan in 2007.

In addition to his studio work, Bridges has been a dedicated educator for more than three decades, mentoring generations of young artists at the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Arts in Lakeland, Florida.

In 2023, he was commissioned to create two pieces, Blazing Swarm No. 1 and Blazing Swarm No. 2, for Blake High School with support from the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

“Teaching keeps me grounded,” he reflects. “It forces me to articulate what I do in the studio, and that feedback loop has made me a better artist—and human.”

From the Ashes

Bridges’ process is deeply intuitive yet meticulously structured. He collects and categorizes materials—by color, size, and texture—before assembling them into sculptural works that blur the line between abstraction and storytelling.

“There’s a clarity that comes from disorder,” he says. “My goal is to find balance, even poetry, in apparently random combinations of things and ideas.”

His solo exhibitions, such as The Order of Disarrangement at the Polk Museum of Art and Heavy Metal at the Maitland Art Center, have earned critical acclaim. These shows reveal an artist engaged not just with materials, but with metaphor. A standout piece included metal rescued from the demolition of the old Tampa Museum—what was once rubble, now a sculptural tribute to transformation.

Art critic Luis Gottardi wrote:

“By reinventing these broken or outmoded forms, [Bridges] is making a metaphorical positive statement about celebrating the beauty, experience, history, meaning and strength in each of us.”

Recognition and Legacy

Bridges’ work has been recognized across Florida, with Best of Show honors at major juried festivals including Mainsail, SoBe Miami, Temple Beth El, Mayfaire, and Gasparilla. His pieces have appeared in group exhibitions such as Building Legacies: Architecture & Design at the Leepa Rattner Museum of Art (2022), further cementing his status as a vital voice in contemporary assemblage art.

Even at auction, Bridges’ earlier works like Four Prayer Chairs (1997) have garnered collector interest, a testament to the timeless resonance of his themes.

Yet Bridges is not one to rest on accolades. He remains passionately committed to exploring the relationship between material, memory, and meaning.

“It’s not just about making something beautiful—it’s about telling a story through what’s been forgotten,” he says. “That’s where the magic lives.”

A Living Archive of Renewal

Now in the mentorship phase of his career, Bridges continues to shape both Florida’s art landscape and the minds of emerging artists. His legacy lies not only in the sculptures that adorn gallery walls but in the countless students he’s encouraged to see possibility in the overlooked.

“Everything has a second life,” Bridges says with a smile. “You just have to look hard enough to see it.”

From reclaimed debris to refined metaphor, Rocky Bridges reminds us that art is not just about what we see, but how we choose to see it. •

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