This exhibit considers the relationship
between the human and the natural worlds. It explores the many ways artists are thinking about, and responding to, nature, from close observation to narrative and metaphor, from work that looks at the threats of climate change and mass extinction to art that is personal and intimate. Our goal is to showcase a wide range of ideas, media, and emotions, serving to evoke the complex and layered connections between us and our world.
Sachiko Akiyama
Jan Martijn Burger
Sarah Myers Brendt
Stacy Cushner
Melissa Dold
Rick Fox
Michelle Lougee
Patte Loper
Kayla Mohammadi
Naoe Suziki
Sophy Tuttle
Monika Plioplyte
IG: @monikaplioplyte
Statement
My new series I Have Seen Myself Backwards was specifically created for the Musa Collective's online exhibition "Painting". Since this exhibition is named quote, unquote "painting", it led me to think about artists who have used modes of alternative painting. David Lynch and his inspiration to make films is said to have come from seeing a gust of wind blow into his studio one day and picturing the landscape painting he was working on become animated. Arguably, all of Lynch's films can be described as "paintings that can move". In I Have Seen Myself Backwards my intention was to work towards a similar idea. I started out by laying on top of the scanner bed and conjuring images that were flat depictions of my body, in some cases combined with my drawings that I wrapped around different body parts. I then collaged them digitally using a deep darkness as a backdrop to situate these figures to look like they are emerging and disappearing all at the same time. These images are about the body becoming a surreal animated force in a nonlinear dream sequence.
Bio
Monika Plioplyte is a multi-disciplinary artist merging printmaking, sculpture, performance, and photography. Born in Lithuania, Plioplyte grew up in Boston, MA. She holds a BFA in Printmaking from Massachusetts College of Art and Design (‘12) and an MFA in Print Media from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (‘19). She is a recipient of a number of awards and fellowships including the Genevieve McMillan-Reba Stewart Travel Award for printmakers, Blanche E. Colman Award, Professional Development Track Grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, John W. Kurtich Foundation Travel Grant, The Center Program at Hyde Park Art Center, and Studios at MASS MoCa Residency. Plioplyte currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.
