Group X and PIDC announced its latest public art installation at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Greetings From The Mirage, a domed sculptural art installation that will transport you to a surrealist soft desert.

Created by sculptor Matty Geez, Greetings From The Mirage features an artist’s vision of a desert landscape made with over a dozen larger-than-life-sized cacti created from colorful and soft textiles, which all sit inside a 20’ x 36’ dome.

Following 11 months of planning and creation and an eight-day installation period, the exhibit is open to the public now through June 18th, 2023. The Navy Yard welcomes visitors from sun up to sundown, Monday through Sunday. This artwork is free for all to view and experience, and it requires no ticket or reservation. It is located in the grassy field found at 11th Street and Kitty Hawk Avenue at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The exhibit is outdoors and is accessible by wheelchair.

Working in the realm of sculpture, Matty Geez’s pieces are three dimensional but maintain a kinship to two-dimensional works. His sculptures verge on the edge of fantastic, flamboyant and oversaturated, while holding onto familiar botanical shapes. Juxtaposition of hard and soft along with the use of color explores gender identities and breaking the binary that exists in our current world.

This is the sixth collaborative public art partnership between Group X, a group of Philadelphia-based artists, curators, and organizers whose members are anonymous, and the Navy Yard, the “coolest shipyard in America” and leading model for repurposed military base where 15,000 employees work at 150 companies, surrounded by iconic parks,Complete Streets, and a riverfront greenway.

About the artist: Matty Geez graduated with his BFA in Illustration from Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in2014. After moving to Philadelphia, his work began to take on aspects of three dimensional art. Inspired by practical special effects of the 80s and 90s and the flamboyance of nature, his work evolved into an environment and space all its own. Matty has exhibited at various galleries in eastern and central Pennsylvania and most recently has worked with the Lancaster City PublicArts board to facilitate community engagement with the local LGBTQIA+ community. He currently lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. https://www.instagram.com/anordinarydaze/