Michelle Benoit

Content is often guided by the process itself and alchemical reaction.  The substance, format and methodology of the work have been fluid over the years but the intent has remained constant, to embed meaning with time, isolated, to visually see what it looks like.  Often materials are recycled and reclaimed.  Collected, cut, painted, stacked, mortared and coalesced.
Experimentation and intent are often embedded, revealing process, reflection and structure as image.  Plastics, various wood, paints and mixed media are cut, assembled, adhered and re-cut.  Ingrained layers and seams are exposed.  Memory is encase in complexion, saturation and matter.  Color combinations are coded and symbolic of and for, past events, memory and place.  I think of the results as a contemporary geologic core sample, a very personal yet collective landscape. This current body of work is both an expansion and a response to my adhesive fragment collection of site. These swatches are remnants of old paints, wallpapers, wood metal, dirt and fabrics that I excavated and ultimately extracted from the family home that I grew up in.

-Michelle Benoit