Experience collages, paper wall-relief works, cardboard sculptures, silkscreen prints, and a three-minute 16mm film in the first of three UO art faculty exhibitions scheduled at White Box gallery in Portland.
An Inventory of Effects by Christopher Michlig, assistant professor in the UO Department of Art, opens November 3 with an artist’s talk from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at White Box, 24 NW First Avenue in the White Stag Block. A reception will follow Michlig’s talk. The exhibition runs through December 10.
For this show Michlig offers a constellation of works, processes, materials, and cultural references reflecting his studio processes as they intersect with art, design, and architectural influences.
“Michlig has a very particular style of working. While his imagery could translate and be produced via modern digital technology, he goes out of his way to avoid this,” said Cris Moss, White Box director and curator. “By using a Risograph printer circa late 1980s, Christopher has found a unique method of digital printing that lends itself more to the likes of physical screen printing. This results in prints with vibrant colors that each have unique elements—digital hiccups. No two are alike. The final works are realized as individual elements or are combined to form collages and/or sculptural forms.”
Although White Box’s adjoining Gray Box is configured to accommodate immersive state-of-the-art digital video projection, Michlig will use the space to screen a looping 16mm film projection. Michlig’s interest in analog film is closely tied to his collage practice as it relates to stop-motion cut-paper animation. The physical and audible presence of a continuous 16mm film projection will complement and parallel the blunt, tactile nature of the stop-motion animation.
“This exhibition will entice viewers to get engulfed in colors, shapes, forms, and sound, while experiencing a flashback to the early ’90s and postmodernism expression,” Moss said.
A limited release publication made in collaboration with designer Brian Roettinger, featuring an interview between Michlig and curator and writer Jan Tumlir, will be released in conjunction with the exhibition.
Michlig’s work has been reviewed and featured in the Los Angeles Times, Proximity, Mousse, Saatchi Online, Flavorpill, and New City Art Chicago, among others, and his solo debut at Jail Gallery in Los Angeles, California, was reviewed in the May 2008 Artforum.
An interview with designer Bijan Birahimi about Michlig‘s recent exhibition Ex-Pictures is featured online.
An Inventory of Effects is the first of three in a series of Faculty Research Grants exhibitions. Fellow recipients Carla Bengston and Rick Silva will each present new work in solo exhibitions at White Box on dates to be announced.
The White Box is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 6:00 p.m.
Above: An image from Christopher Michlig’s An Inventory of Effects. Image courtesy White Box.