In two new bodies of work Creighton Michael explores the fragile beauty that exists during stasis, that moment between chaos and order, emergence and dissolution.
The exhibition highlights work from the two current series; Field and Grid. Both bodies of work create layers of perceptibility for the viewer to experience in physical and illusionistic space. The artist is interested in mark making that expresses the immediacy of drawing in its process of development. Field fuses painting, sculpture and drawing while Grid combines elements of sculpture and drawing.
Field is a series on linen covered convex panels that explore the tentative relationship between the texture on a surface of an object and the optical space residing within its pictorial plane. These graceful 26 x 24 inch panels are inspired by the structure of 15th century Northern European altar panels. Field encourages the viewer to experience illusionistically the compression of a three dimensional field of vision onto a curved ground.
Grid is a series of three-dimensional drawings that emerge from a pencil grid drawn directly on the gallery wall. Individual sculptural units are repeated and installed into the wall to form a shape that mingles with the shadows or shades of each of the separate marks. The result is a drawing that inhabits a space somewhere between the wall and the viewer.