January 8-30, 2016

I Just Want to Know You’re There

Interdisciplinary artist, Michelle Lisa Herman maintains two artistic practices. In this exhibition “I Just Want to Know You’re There,” Michelle is showing these two bodies of work side-by-side.
In one practice, she paints using a pressing technique that allows her to achieve an element of chance and to remove the artist’s hand from a material that compels it. Using the technique of “decalcomania”(as coined by Max Ernst), Michelle manipulates sumi ink between multiple layers of Mylar to reveal abstract “fractal” patterns. The effect: faces, or “Masks” that seem to emerge from the ink itself while providing room for the viewer to make associative connections.

The second practice—new media installations—she explores the ideas of communication and the desire for connection in the digital age. Michelle is showing three of these works: a mixed-media installation called “Invisibility;” an interactive video installation that utilizes facial recognition “Mirror Mirror;” and her newest work, an interactive sculpture “Sad Bear.”

Michelle Lisa Herman is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Washington, D.C. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Maryland Institute of College and Art in 2008. Her work spans a variety of media from abstract painting to interactive installation, often exploring ideas of communication and a desire for connection in the digital age. She has exhibited her work nationally in a variety of spaces including the Smithsonian Institution International Gallery, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, DC Arts Center, Artisphere, and the Washington Project for the Arts.