Michelle Segre
Symptoms of Escape Velocity
February 15 - March 15, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 15, 6-8pm
Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent drawings and sculpture by Michelle Segre.
In her sculptures composed of plaster, wire, mesh, found detritus, and various organic matter, Segre continues to develop her heterogeneous vision, informed as much by mega-ancient Neolithic idols as by Joan Miró and science fiction. In Self-Reflexive Narcissistic Supernova (2013), the disorienting amalgam of possibilities reaches an ecstatic intensity. The head of a mushroom, meticulously composed in wax and measuring five feet in diameter, emanates a vibrant dream-catcher-like form. Segre has painted the on edge mushroom top with impasto markings reminiscent of prehistoric caves and pagan hieroglyphs. The effect is fantastical and bizarre, an invitation to negotiate an alternate reality and a sculptural set of unknowns. The craft-work motifs rendered in vibrant colors of yarn (blackberry purple, candy apple red, mustard yellow), shards of reflective materials, and a web of suggestive and enigmatic objects evoke detailed cellular patterns and astral visions. The sculpture brims with potential energy and a sense of kinetic action, as if the mushroom were projecting itself as mycological information into real space.
An installation of drawings and xeroxed sketchbook pages give insight into the germination and evolution of these structures and some of the visual touchstones that engender them. Drawing is essential to her work and is the laboratory of her imagination. Through practiced automation and a deft hand, the pencil or ballpoint pen opens possibilities that Segre then actualizes in three-dimensional form.
Michelle Segre’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, New York. Segre is a past recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award (2011). Recent solo exhibitions include Cress Gallery, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN (2014) and Antecedents of the Astral Hamster at University Art Museum, University at Albany, SUNY (2013). She received a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, NY, and studied abroad with the Tyler School of Art, Rome, Italy, and lives in New York City. This will be her fifth solo exhibition with the gallery.
Derek Eller Gallery is located at 615 West 27th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues. Hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 11am - 6pm. For further information or visuals, please contact the gallery at 212.206.6411 or visit www.derekeller.com