Friday, November 30, 2007

Michelle Segre

Michelle Segre's new show at Derek Eller Gallery (www.derekeller.com, 615 West 27 Street, New York, NY) is filled with large, beautiful, outrageous, corporeal sculptures. The work is influenced by several varieties of surrealism--Pavel Tchelitchew (http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/features/mmendelsohn/mendelsohn8-27-98.asp)
Enrico Donati (http://www.weinstein.com/donati/sculpture.html) et al., as well as classic medical illustrations (Dr. Frank Netter, the Michelangelo of Medicine, http://www.netterimages.com/artist/netter.htm) and wax medical models but mainly represents the individual vision of the artist herself, who defiantly serves up something that is going to be unpalatable to some observers. Some critics will inevitably deride these sculptures as horror movie/sci-fi "surrealist kitsch" (the New York Times, in particular, seems unable to use the words surrealist and surrealism without using the word kitsch in the same paragraph)--some will love them for all the same factors . Astute observers will delight in the work's virtuoso craftsmanship, anatomical fantasy and perfect balance between haunting narrative and magnificent objectness. The artist (who I've known since 1982!) and her work shown below.