Country:
Categories:
actor setting figure ground, opening Friday, October 14, at Darger HQ, will feature work by Kristina Estell (Duluth, MN) and Michael Ian Larsen (Lincoln, NE) and will be on view through December 4. The opening reception will be 6:00 to 9:00 pm, with an artist talk at 6:00 pm.
actor setting figure ground is a two-person exhibition of sculptural gestures, shaping and reflecting on the fundamental nature of abstract figuration and immediate environment. Michael Larsen and Kristina Estell both rely on the aesthetic, physical properties of industrial and domestic building materials to create poetic relationships between object and space. This body of work delicately considers the value and implications of the sensual information that influences our understanding of the material environment.
Daily encounters with natural and constructed environments generate ideas of implicit action and reaction. Using a variety of processes and materials, Kristina Estell creates sculpture, installation, interactive and watercolor works that generate sensitive and dynamic material experiences. Estell received her BFA from Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis and MFA from University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and has participated in exhibitions and creative residencies nationally and internationally.
Michael Larsen received his BA in Art from Nebraska Wesleyan University and an MFA in Ceramics from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013, where he worked for one year following graduation. He has shown his work in several notable Chicago venues and produces installations, which incorporate ceramics as well as found and altered objects. His work balances an innate interest in the organic with contemporary sculptural practice, creating installations that engage space and perception. Narratives involving innocence, growth, and desire intertwine to form an Edenic backdrop that encourages curiosity and exploration.
actor setting figure ground is part of a series of collaborative and experimental projects facilitated by Darger HQ. Darger HQ connects Nebraska contemporary artists to the world by creating collaborative working opportunities between local artists and national and international artists with related practices, and develops partnerships that benefit artists by providing new means of support through combined private and non-profit sources. Darger HQ also educates, enriches and exposes the community to some of the most innovative contemporary art being produced today.
More information on the artists and their work can be found on their websites:
http://www.kristinaestell.com/
This program is funded in part by Humanities Nebraska
Kristina Estell, Michael Ian Larsen
Darger HQ
