BIBLIOGRAPHY

Vikki Michalios’ works were seen at Art Fair 14C, Hunterdon Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Jersey City Museum, Blackburn 20/20 at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Center for Contemporary Arts in Bedminster, Contemporary Artists Center Woodside, AIR Gallery, Walsh at Seton Hall University, Columbia University, and Denise Bibro among others. Reviews and mentions have were seen in The Star Ledger, New York Arts Magazine, and Steven Zevitas’ publication, Studio Visit Magazine. She was awarded residencies at Millay Colony of Art, ArtReach program (City Without Walls), and Chautauqua Institution. Vikki Michalios received an MFA degree in painting from the University of Oregon and has lived in or near New York City since 1995.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I make Images on wooden panels with acrylic paint or combine methods together including drawing, painting, and printing especially silk screen, dry point, etching, and mono-print. The work is about positivity and cheer by using high key colors and upbeat rhythms, layers, texture, depth, all that push the boundaries of aesthetics. I paint intuitively, impulsively, and in the moment involving order, structure, beauty, color, shape, and form for the purpose of helping us to feel and take a sort of vacation from a time of global pandemic, climate change, the me too movement, riots over racial injustice, and our own country uprising against our own government. Doing positive and peaceful work that speaks to a positive mind will make the world brighter and more bearable. Now more than ever is the time to make art and do those things that make us celebrate being human.

I began making paintings on panels using acrylic paint for the first time after years of working with traditional oils. I mix in charcoal, graphite, ink, and collage as well. My art has taken a shift and is continuing to change since the pandemic started in March 2020.  The new work is about positivity by using high key colors and upbeat rhythms, layers, texture, and depth that push the boundaries of aesthetics. I paint intuitively, impulsively, and in the moment where a painting could start as one composition and through the process of omitting and adding aesthetic surprises and enjoyable moments, the painting could go through several different iterations until it ends up as a vibrant punch of euphoria.

I realize we must make our art now more than ever during this time when we are navigating a global pandemic, climate change, the watershed moment of the me too movement, riots across the world over racial injustice, and our own country uprising against our own government. It is nice to have order, cheer, structure, beauty, and color and to let that message be that. It is hard to be an ARTIVIST – or art activist – without the politically charged messages being a slap in the face. It’s okay for work to just be about art, shape, form, color, let it make us feel. Doing positive and peaceful work that speaks to a positive mind will make the world brighter and more bearable. Now more than ever is the time to make your art and do those things that make us celebrate being human.