CV

»download CV as pdf

Bio

Michelle Oosterbaan is a visual artist whose drawings and installations investigate sense of place and passage of time. In her work she portrays the visceral experience of change – tracing stages of things falling apart and things coming together; pairing the unknown alongside the familiar – to reveal the mysterious structure of memory.

In her drawings, she maps the realms of space where memory and daydream meet. Geometric abstract patterns in imagery build with references to myth, landscape, architecture, and space in general.

In the wall paintings, she uses hand‐mixed industrial paint — to chart space within a given architecture — investigating formal elements like line, form, and color psychology. She creates interiors that engage the perspective of the spectator, in addition to the physical characteristics of the site. As she works she concentrates on the physical act of making a painting, to tell stories of change.

In 2008 she completed a small world tour of residency fellowships at Cite des Arts Internationale in Paris, M4 Studio in Amsterdam, DCRGueststudios in Den Hague, The Gil Society in Iceland and maintained a studio in Berlin. Other notable residencies that she has been invited to, include The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, where she received the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including The Drawing Center, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Museum and Gallery Joe.

In the summer 2010 she collaborated with the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program to design and install a mural in the dance studios of Philadelphia Center for Arts & Technology Building “PULSE: Out to Move.” Currently, she is preparing for a two person show “FANTASME” with Saira McLaren at GrizzlyGrizzly in the Vox Populi Building in Philadelphia, opening March of 2012.

A few of her inspirations include Dutch graphics, Swedish architecture, 16 c Belgium Tapestries, Chinese ink washes, Tibetan Mandalas, and Pina Bausch’s choreography.