Michele Oka Doner
dal 29/11/2011 al 28/4/2012
Segnalato da
29/11/2011
Michele Oka Doner
Miami Biennale, Miami
Exhaling Gnosis. These dramatic works express a devotion to nature's detritus and a clear understanding of the distinct, almost hieroglyphic, form of language they represent. The artist uses these materials as a sculptor does, creating a series of unique works that capture the spirit and form of the natural world.
Septermber 30, 2011, Miami. Miami Biennale is pleased to host Exhaling Gnosis, the first major exhibition of works on paper by Michele Oka Doner, showing from November 30, 2011 through April 29, 2012.
The captivating beauty of these feral, organic pieces reflects on the imagery of the natural world, of plants, animals, insects, transformed into visual statements that take a Rorschach-like quality. As such they unleash the viewer's interaction with the work, projecting the powerful personal interior of their psyches.
For Michele Oka Doner the natural world is an integral part of her visual vocabulary. Following up on her recent personal show, Neuration of the Genus at Dieu Donné, New York, this exhibition reflects and expands on structure, patterns in nature and wordless texts, an understanding that allows the artist to use the substantive endowment provided by nature and materialize it into notes for her "songs."
In addition to the Dieu Donné sixteen 40 x 60 inch abaca handmade paper pieces, the installation will feature seven totemic relief prints from organic materials from Wildwood Press, a series of prints made with Dykem spray paint on kraft paper, and two oversized palm books created at Dieu Donné Studios.
The Palm Books incorporate organic palm material, often with tremendous texture and density, directly into the paper, creating a highly charged relationship between the objects they are and the images they create. The specific plant forms Oka Doner chooses and the arrangements she achieves are suspended in an ethereal veil of sublimity within the abaca sheets; we sense Oka Doner's transformative hand.
These dramatic works express a devotion to nature's detritus and a clear understanding of the distinct, almost hieroglyphic, form of language they represent. The artist uses these materials as a sculptor does, creating a series of unique works that capture the spirit and form of the natural world.
The second oversized book, What is the White, is a limited edition artist book that sensuously explores the nature of whiteness. The artist tells her story through a convergence of exquisite materials – translucent and opaque papers, sumptuous waxes and felts, original prose letterpressed in the artist's hand – aptly described by the art historian Pari Stave as "an artic jewel box." Forming an exquisite and meditative object, the book transports the viewer from the systematic theories of whiteness, color and perception to nature's more spiritual rewards.
About the artist: The artist is well known for her numerous public art installations, including A Walk on the Beach and From Seashore to Tropical Gardens at Miami International Airport and Healing Plants at the UMDNJ University Hospital Center in Newark. Her sculpture and functional objects are in the collections of many prestigious museums, among them The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Miami Art Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Included in her many publications are three monographs: Natural Seduction (2003), Workbook (2004) and Michele Oka Doner: HumanNature (2008). Oka Doner is represented by Marlborough Gallery.
About Miami Biennale: Miami Biennale is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to promote the Arts. Our mission is to advocate creative dialogues between Miami's multi-layered community and the world, stimulating public/private initiatives and funding that generate projects with interactive platforms for education and community transformation through culture.
The work will be exhibited at Miami Print Shop, located at 3000 North Miami Avenue, 33127.
Miami Biennale
2751 North Miami Avenue - Miami
Exhibition Hours: Thursday through Saturday 10 am– 4:00 pm.