Michelle Blade’s solo exhibition transcends the apocalyptic with her lucid landscapes and totemic sculptures.  

Johansson Projects presents Partnerlook, a solo show by Michelle Blade. In this exhibition the paintings and ceramic sculpture look to one another in conversation, echoing aesthetic similarities and mimicking their investigation of the natural world and humanity’s role within it. At times bleeding into abstraction, the works portray a vibrant cosmos of form and texture. Figures gather in celestial, psychological landscapes, bearing witness to both the beautiful and the apocalyptic. Emblematic sculptures spread throughout the exhibition act as candle-bearers for this mortal venture, signifying humanity’s symbiotic relationship with the natural world. These terrains offer something just beyond our collective understanding, divulging no visionary gains, they are simply a mirror of arresting times.

Press

Michelle Blade’s paintings and installations have been exhibited extensively in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Tokyo, London, and Copenhagen. Reviews of her work have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, ArtSpan, and Art Practical. She is a recipient of the Murphy-Cadogan Fellowship, a 2X2 Pro Arts Grant, and an Alternative Exposure SOEX Grant. Born in California, Blade holds a BA from Loyola Marymount University and an MFA from the California College of the Arts. She lives and works in Los Angeles.