Michelle Frick: Unusual Evolution October 4-27, 2024
Photo by Federico Savini “Protecting” (detail), 2022, Cast Silicone, silicone tubing, copper, plaster, preserved Cordon Bleu finch, light
Michelle Frick: Unusual Evolution
October 4th - 27th, 2024
First Friday Opening Reception, Friday, October 4th, 6-9 pm
Michelle Frick learned about the anatomy of the heart and directions that blood courses through it while observing her child’s numerous echocardiograms which aided in the diagnosis of his congenital heart defect. The computer monitor, with flashes of blue, red, yellow, and orange, was like a viewing hole to his insides. A fascination with the internal and what she cannot see firsthand put viscera and the tenuous health of the body at the
center of her work, allowing her to reflect on ecology, mystery, animal conservation, and species extinction.
Making human-scaled sculptures that appear lifelike with an otherworldly aspect, she employs viewing holes and mirrors to draw the viewer’s gaze to their interiors. The sculptures are made of ordinary materials – plaster, silicone, paper, resin – yet they do not seem constructed, but rather grown. Inside them, there are smaller sculptures, just like a heart, which conjure images of birds, amphibians, and sea life in varying states of vigor or decay. Within these creatures lies a disquieting narrative that illuminates their possible decline and disappearance.
The outer sculptures act as surreal devices protecting and safeguarding species possibly for human observation and care. Similar to a doctor studying the heart, Frick invites the viewer to examine taxidermy animals and sculptural animal objects to contemplate the health of the earth’s wildlife.
Artists BIO
Michelle Frick was born in Queens, NY. She earned her MFA and BFA at PrattInstitute. She has exhibited in New York and internationally in cities such as Rome andLos Angeles. She is a recipient of the Artist in the Marketplace Fellowship, the BRIOAward (2008, 2024), the Rogalski and Howard C.H. Awards (2023) and was nominatedfor the Dedalus Fellowship (2023). She has received multiple residencies on GovernorsIsland in New York and the Critical Feedback Residency at Trestle Art Space inBrooklyn. Frick’s work has been written about in Hyperallergic, The New Yorker, andThe New York Times. She lives in the Bronx.
