Ukrainian American Sculptor
Lives and works in Rockport, ME + Brooklyn, NY
Painting & metal-craft with the belief that information has weight & objects are sentient. Metal working with ancient techniques, playing with technology. Buildling an anthology of internet iconography.
Take care of your matter and it will take care of you.
Michelle’s mother Svitlana (left) & Michelle (right) . 2022 Staples passport headshot of Michelle paired with early 2000s Ukraine passport.
Michel 'Michelle' Darling is a Ukrainian-American artist working between metal sculpture and mixed media painting that address art as a form of magic. Through making, the mind and body come together to manifest a prayer. Through both personal symbology and collective imagination, the objects are imbued with essence, myth, and symbolic powers.
Darling is building a personal anthology of objects and iconography that depict the mundane daily life that occurs both within the internet and physical realm. These works themeatically explore the ancient, online psychic damage, faith, and their interconnectedness today.
E
2024
2022-2024
2021-2022
2024
2023
2022
2024
2023
2022
2021
EDUCATION & SCHOOLING
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Fellow
Bachelors of Fine Arts , SMFA Tufts University, Boston, MA
Undeclared, University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Blacksmith apprentice, Tutto Metalwork -Raymond Mathis, Thomaston, ME
Gallery Assistant, Blue Raven Gallery, Rockland, ME
Mural Intern, Ryan Adams & Rachel Gloria Adams, Portland, ME
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Losing My Religion Losing My Religion, Bromfeild Gallery, Boston, MA
Sculpture + Fibers Area Show, Mission Hill SMFA, Boston, MA
Ameriqa, Andres F. Arevalo Zea, Bogotá, Colombia
Taken as Read, 82Parris, Portland, ME
Metals Dept. Group Show, SMFA Tufts University, Boston, MA
ARTPM2021, BUOY GALLERY, Kittery, ME
Information holds weight, it is stored physically in servers speckling the globe, as well as within our bodies. Online, the ‘meme’ becomes a form of brain malware, uploaded and constantly updated as the patterns of information develop. Structures of architecture and information tower over us and can crush the spirit or embolden it. Third spaces, leftovers, dead web-forums, ditherings, trash piles, where rainwater pools or drains, scuffed ledges, trails of wax: the traceable scent of life left by people. The mundane is significant for understanding global society as well as the deepest innermost parts of ourselves.
The relationship between humans and metal is ancient. The sensual quality of metal can be brought out by paying attention to its form. It has always been united with the body as ornament, protection, and machinery. Metal can be infinitely recycled, as a result; almost every silver, gold, aluminum, or copper object has some trace of its ancient context. The stored energy of its brutality, luxury, and beauty come with using the material, and it manifests inside the object automatically. As swords, reliquaries, toaster ovens, carriage wheels, teapots, computers, and website servers, metal becomes a chimera that holds all of human history in its molecular memory.