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Michelle Blade : Into the Forest

Past exhibition
14 November - 19 December 2020
  • Overview
  • Installation Views
  • Works
  • Press
Overview
Michelle Blade , Into the Forest

Wilding Cran is pleased to announce Into the Forest, a solo exhibition of acrylic ink paintings on poplin, and drawings made with a rainbow pencil by Los Angeles based artist Michelle Blade. 

 

Set against the backdrop of a global pandemic and fraught political times, Into the Forest is an amalgamation of experience and emotion made while sheltering in place.Taking note from her most intimate and immediate surroundings, Blade’s paintings depict a collection of quotidian scenes:  the last blush of day, her children in the garden, the remnants of a meal, flowers in stages of decay, mountainous landscapes and towering trees under radiant moons. These meditative moments of solitude within a California landscape take note from the natural world and closely examine its stillness, strength, persistence and metaphysical qualities. 

 

Using exploration and the human condition as a broad starting point, Blade draws from the theories and visual vernacular of Transcendentalism, Magical Realism and Romanticism. Her images are full of divine light, and portraits  of totem-like individuals submersed in psychedelic color-fields. Her aesthetic, which endows the simple and mundane with preternatural qualities, is made by applying numerous atmospheric layers of acrylic ink that bleed, bloom and pulse with mystical tones. Her luminous landscapes and figures are often pushed toward abstraction by the essence of the water based media. Blade believes this limbo serves as a physical placeholder for the mysterious, thus creating an opportunity to reinterpret and draw into question the essence of the everyday.

 

Driven by the inescapable qualities of the natural world this exhibition is about curiosity and one's search for meaning and place within the cosmos.The perceived energy Blade depicts lays behind physical appearances. It’s a world of benevolent energy flowing through and protecting life. The title of the exhibition “Into the Forest”, is not simply an escapist fantasy but also a rallying call to dive more deeply into ones reality and  reassess our connection to the health of our afflicted world. In the words of Mary Oliver, using “Attention as devotion”. 

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Download Press Release
Download List of Works
Installation Views
  • Into The Forest Install 5
  • Into The Forest Install 4
  • Into The Forest Install 2
  • Into The Forest Install 3
  • Into The Forest Install 1
  • Into The Forest Install 7
  • Into The Forest Install 6
  • Into The Forest Install 8
Works
  • Michelle Blade, Soft Animal of the Future/ Glendale, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Soft Animal of the Future/ Glendale, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    72 x 60 in. 182.9 x 152.4 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Song of Brugmansia / Altadena, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Song of Brugmansia / Altadena, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    72 x 60 in. 182.9 x 152.4 cm
  • Michelle Blade, My Neighbor's Estuary / Glendale, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    My Neighbor's Estuary / Glendale, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    60 x 48 in. 152.4 x 121.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Within the Folds, a Seed / Glendale, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Within the Folds, a Seed / Glendale, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    60 x 48 in. 152 x 122 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Eucalyptus Grove / Elysian Park, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Eucalyptus Grove / Elysian Park, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    60 x 48 in. 152.4 x 121.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Between Rupture and Rapture/ Glendale, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Between Rupture and Rapture/ Glendale, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    50 x 40 in. 127 x 101.6 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Toward Silence / Verdugo Park, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Toward Silence / Verdugo Park, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    50 x 40 in. 127 x 101.6 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Upstream / Sandy River, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Upstream / Sandy River, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    50 x 40 in. 127 x 101.6 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Rider of the Flower Moon / Griffith Park, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Rider of the Flower Moon / Griffith Park, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    34 x 30 in. 102 x 76 cm
  • Michelle Blade, A Thick Presence / Berkeley Marina, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    A Thick Presence / Berkeley Marina, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    25 x 24 in. 63.5 x 61 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Solid & Liquid / Sonoma, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Solid & Liquid / Sonoma, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    25 x 24 in. 63.5 x 61 cm
  • Michelle Blade, The Unmistakable / Solana Beach, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    The Unmistakable / Solana Beach, 2020
    Acrylic ink on poplin
    25 x 24 in. 63.5 x 61 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #8, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #8, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #3, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #3, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #14, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #14, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #10, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #10, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #13, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #13, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #6, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #6, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #2, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #2, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #5, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #5, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #4, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #4, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #18, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #18, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #11, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #11, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #12, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #12, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #16, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #16, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #9, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #9, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #7, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #7, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #1, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #1, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #17, 2019
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #17, 2019
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Michelle Blade, Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #15, 2020
    Michelle Blade
    Untitled rainbow pencil drawing #15, 2020
    Rainbow pencil on paper
    12 x 9 in. 30.5 x 22.9 cm
Press
  • Michelle Blade: Paintings celebrating everyday beauty and psychedelic sunsets

    KCRW, November 17, 2020
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