CHICAGO, Illinois - THE MISSION is pleased to present Movements in Time and Space an exhibition of recent paintings by Peruvian artist, Michelle Prazak. In her first US solo exhibition, Prazak presents a series of multi-layered oil paintings, referred to as Movements. Both geometric and constructive, their surface marks and illusory depth negate; a prescribed origin, yet point to distinct historical markers that inscribe a complexity to their subject matter. Her Movements are delicately rendered grid structures superimposed by ghostly stacks of flat, desaturated planes of color. In some cases the progressions of these planes bisect the canvas in a horizontal manner, while in others they progress in a vertical fashion.
Prazak succinctly points to two primary sources at once surprising and visually astute. “My main artistic influences,” she writes, “are Fra Angelico, for his very subtle, moving and precise use of color and mark and Joseph Albers, for his formal study in perception and form, his visual reversals, his investigation of the dynamics and relativity of color.” Both of these sources provide a solid foundation for what she considers to be an esoteric and spiritual practice. “I’m fascinated by the ability of space to possess an infinite extension in all directions and dimensions, by how our consciousness perceives the dimensionality of our world, and how space is a multi-dimensional mirror of our consciousness.” Here Prazak’s understanding of the ontological usefulness of abstraction is clear, in as much as it can claim to represent, almost in a virtual reality sense, our collective ability to perceive and visualize. Movements in Time and Space moves us far beyond a simple reduction of form to geometric designs and into a far more compelling place that reverberates with a poetic resonance distinctly marked by the here and now.
Text by Gilbert Vicario, Senior Curator, Des Moines Art Center
Movements in Time and Space will open on Friday, November 9, 2012 and run through Saturday, December 22, 2012.
Prazak succinctly points to two primary sources at once surprising and visually astute. “My main artistic influences,” she writes, “are Fra Angelico, for his very subtle, moving and precise use of color and mark and Joseph Albers, for his formal study in perception and form, his visual reversals, his investigation of the dynamics and relativity of color.” Both of these sources provide a solid foundation for what she considers to be an esoteric and spiritual practice. “I’m fascinated by the ability of space to possess an infinite extension in all directions and dimensions, by how our consciousness perceives the dimensionality of our world, and how space is a multi-dimensional mirror of our consciousness.” Here Prazak’s understanding of the ontological usefulness of abstraction is clear, in as much as it can claim to represent, almost in a virtual reality sense, our collective ability to perceive and visualize. Movements in Time and Space moves us far beyond a simple reduction of form to geometric designs and into a far more compelling place that reverberates with a poetic resonance distinctly marked by the here and now.
Text by Gilbert Vicario, Senior Curator, Des Moines Art Center
Movements in Time and Space will open on Friday, November 9, 2012 and run through Saturday, December 22, 2012.
