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Michele Kong
About
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Artist Statement

A variety of sources – from literature to the sciences – often inspires my artworks. For several years, I created a series of sculptural installations which focus on translucence as a way to shift attention and perceptions to unseen things. Reminiscent of delicately woven spiders' webs, evaporating moisture, and intricate lacework magnified to an architectural scale, their fragility and remarkable transformation of materials are breathtaking and inspire awe. Beginning in 2005, I expanded my sculptural practice to include temporary outdoor interventions. With these projects, I identify specific sites and interject simple gestures often to emphasize a unique feature of the landscape. Accentuating relationships between the intervention and the surroundings, such projects raise questions about scale, the environment, and human impact. More recently, I have been pursuing a significant shift with new works which reveal an unfolding interest in narrative. A few short videos give further life to the sculptures set into the landscape as props for ephemeral events. And a few projects currently in post-production engage collaboration as a means for relating distinct scenarios. Ultimately, my intention for these works is to present improbable settings which trigger the imagination and awaken the senses to engage the world with a fresh and emotionally startling response.


Influential Citations

American writer Saul Bellow once noted, “Art is something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes… the eye of the storm… an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.”

Agnes Martin wrote, “We perceive ⎯ We see. We see with our eyes and see with our minds. We cannot see the truth about life and all of beauty. Both are a great mystery to us.”

Contemporary writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit articulated, "...things seen to rise gradually out of their surroundings are infinitely more real than things which suddenly bump up in front of one, as though the theater set has been changed behind curtains."

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