A luminescent orange hand-bedazzled gumball machine stands tall. Adorned with Swarovski fire opal flatback stones, it immediately exudes an allure that draws viewers in for a closer look. Inside the clear glass container, a striking contrast is revealed as it is filled not with typical colorful candies, but instead with a multitude of orange prescription bottles. Upon looking closer, each prescription bottle has a custom label - reading “Truth Pills - Caution: May be Hard to Swallow.” With this juxtaposition, Simmons visually questions the adage of whether a “spoonful of sugar” really does help the medicine go down. The piece also points to America’s highly flawed and complex health-care system, as the base atop which the machine sits reads “Not Covered by Health Insurance” - with each letter hand painted and formed from tiny pill-shape silhouettes. Simmons’ “Truth Serum” challenges traditional notions of both candy and prescription drugs being used as a way to medicate the struggles of our daily lives, in which some truths are too painful to digest.