MICHELLE NUGENT

I find solace in a bedroom that has been endlessly wallpapered over the years. Wallpaper of crinkled and ripped magazine articles, old and weathered postcards, yellowing sketch paper, and found photographs that curl up to me. Tacked, taped, patched and pasted, these walls and ceiling are tactile testimonies of my desire in collecting and connecting pieces of the world around me.

My current work consists of mixed media "paintings" using elements such as spray paint, thread, Bic ball-point pens, even yesterday's left over coffee. Implementing these "at-hand" everyday household items, I create intimate forms where these non-typical mediums assume a more personable and delicate character. In addition, the juxtaposition between these various mediums and subject matter explore the separation and coexistence between the natural and the synthetic. My gravitation towards representing nature and man-made objects are rendered primarily in life-size scale. The conscious choice of depicting representational objects at such a size seeks to question technical and conceptual perceptions of the true object. Playing with scale and detail allow me to reference the concept of simulacra by constructing landscapes and objects as tweaked, quirky versions of their realistic counterparts. The focus on detail within this process of collage and painting has carried over to my other pieces in digital photography, installation, and fiber-art. The manner with which I use color and line is crucial to the personal narrative interwoven in my works. Bright, opaque, almost jarring colors in conjunction with flat and delicately detailed linear form are informed by my obsession with objects, ideas, and places that are usually overlooked, discarded, and/or taken for granted in highly materialistic American culture.