Playgrounds
A Solo Exhibition by Michelle Kohler
May 26th – July 7, 2018
The complete text of The Bhagavad Gita typed into forms inspired by 17th Century tantric paintings.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Michelle Kohler is a multidisciplinary artist working in Washington DC. Using the constraints of domesticity, her work emerges at the intersection of art and everyday life. Through text, installation, and performance, Michelle examines the distance between the numinous and the mundane, self and other. Inspired by 17th Century tantric paintings, she transcribes sacred texts onto antique book pages. Practicing the ideals set out in texts, she playfully seeks boredom and discomfort as opportunities for creative intervention.
As a yoga practitioner, and former teacher, Michelle is interested in mysticism, inquiry and movement. The mechanical up and down, left and right motion of the typewriter frame her interest in non-dualism. Through collaborations, she interrupts and embellishes accepted stories and action, often trying to embody the experience of another person.
Michelle received an MAT from the Corcoran College of Art and Design and a BA in Studio Art from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She is a geodesic dome owner, and spent her honeymoon hiking 1000 miles on the Continental Divide Trail.
‘Playgrounds’ is her first solo exhibition.