Michelle Lougee

Ubiquitous

The idiosyncratic work of Michelle Lougee reflects on the interconnections in our world. She uses banal materials, natural or man-made, and repetition. Her organic forms are reminiscent of both the micro and the cosmic world. Like the post-minimalist artist Eva Hesse, Lougee’s abstract vocabulary suggests relationships, is messy (reflective of the true state of the world), and has a theatricality about it.

Lougee’s work displays a tension between the materials she selects and her conceptual framework. She asks us to reflect on the easily discarded, omnipresent plastic shopping bags and our indifferent attitude towards nature—the inherent assumption that the environment will remain untouched by our trash. Her organic, cellular forms created with these ubiquitous markers of our technology are luscious, with inviting colors. She reminds us that our dependence on convenience accelerates our destruction of our environment. Yet the discord of using the bags to make her point invites us to see our cognitive dissonance.

The bright red Creeper, despite being a form that looks like it belongs under a microscope, is rather too large for comfort, being 12″ × 12″ × 6″. It spreads out in all directions, with odd extrusions and a pregnant belly. It appears eager to clonally colonize whatever space is available. This carbuncle metaphorically creeps us out while staking its muscular claim to real estate.

Michelle Lougee looks into the heart of our pulsing world, depicting macro and micro life forms using ubiquitous material to grant us a new look at our everyday world.

—B. Lynch, Director, Trustman Art Gallery