After H.F.

November 5 - December 5, 2020

Virtual Solo Exhibit Opens Online November 5, 5pm

Careful Arrangements by Sonya Michel (virtual)

“I am fascinated by the wide range of materials that enter my household almost every day—paper, plastic, metal, glass, textiles…. I am drawn to their colors and shape but also to their textures, patterns—and their histories. For my larger pieces, I apply acrylic paint to canvas in more or less conventional fashion, but I also adhere many collage elements, using found materials, sometimes as-is, sometimes prepared in one way or another. Often it is the materials themselves that inspire and generate the work. My smaller pieces are usually entirely composed of collage, again using both found and prepared materials, with occasional touches of paint, charcoal or pastels.

As I make my pieces, I am often reminded of Arte Povera (“Poor Art”), a movement that arose in Italy in the 1960s and ‘70s (https://www.theartstory.org/movement/arte-povera/. In an effort to counter the commercial materiality of modern corporate culture, its members incorporated many readily found elements into their work, as have artists from Duchamp to Cornell and Rauschenberg, as well as those of the Japanese and Korean group Mono-Ha (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/mono-ha).

One way in which I differ from many of those artists is in their sense of scale. Much of their work has been monumental; mine is more intimate. I think everyone should have a piece of art to live with—if they want it. I hope not only that viewers will enjoy my pieces, both large and small, in themselves, but also that the work will prompt them see the materials in their own surroundings in new ways. If viewers recognize the origins of some of the elements in my work, that’s okay. My goal is to “make them strange” by yanking them out of their usual contexts. In this sense, they are not meant to be representative, though they may be referential, but also simultaneously aesthetic.”

Sewing Kit