Michelle Thomas Richardson
Mirror

February 17 - March 24, 2018
ART TALK: Saturday, March 17, 2-4 PM

February 17 - March 24, 2018
​Ro2 Art, Dallas, TX

Ro2 Art is pleased to present Mirror, a thought-provoking, site-specific installation by artist Michelle Thomas Richardson. The show will be on view from February 17 through March 17, 2018. There will be an opening reception held Saturday, February 17, from 7-10pm at Ro2 Art located at 1501 S. Ervay Street in Dallas’ Cedars neighborhood.
 
Michelle Thomas Richardson’s new work is informed by the curious interactions between perception and reality. As one enters into the gallery’s project space, the previously dormant installation awakens, influencing the viewer’s perception of self in relation to the surrounding world and calling attention to the role of each individual in shaping the views of society. This continual exchange of cognizance between viewer and Mirror reflects the malleability of our perceived reality.

ARTIST STATEMENT

An experience of space begins with the relationships between elements of an environment and its architecture, but more importantly, the viewer’s increased awareness of their own relationship to those same features. I am interested in how our physical reality can be perceived, and how our internal reality can be affected. This felt energy is explored in a new site-specific installation at Ro2 Art’s project space in Dallas.

Mirror responds initially to the gallery, a tight and potentially confrontational space. Relating these characteristics to our space in time, media images reflecting current social movements populate the entirety of the gallery walls drawing a parallel to Picasso’s Guernica involving tragedy and loss of innocence as well as loss of life. The work is created using a variety of textiles that maintain a relationship not only to the tradition of painting but also quilt-making. The charged space creates a multilayered experience both physically and psychologically in an ongoing social narrative.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Michelle Thomas Richardson is a native of Dallas, Texas. She achieved her Master of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting at the University of North Texas in 2015 after earning her BFA from Louisiana State University. Richardson was named a grant recipient of the Dallas Museum of Art’s Awards to Artists through the Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund in 2016. She has also been a Nasher Microgrant finalist as well as a CADD FUNd finalist in 2015. She has shown throughout Texas and has held solo exhibitions of her work at venues including 500X Gallery, Lillian Bradshaw Gallery, and Clamp Light Gallery. In addition to her studio practice, Richardson currently works as a Public Art Project Manager with the Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County.