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Contemporary art gallery ATELIER will highlight elegantly rendered architectural sculpture in its first solo exhibition of 2024, scheduled to run from Feb. 8 through March 22.
Michael Wolf. Photo Provided.“domicilium: a place to dwell” is an exhibition of work by New York City-area artist Michael Wolf. The show includes four freestanding sculptures, nine wall-hung relief pieces and one painting with geometric forms and gilded arches rendered in wood, stone, metal and gold leaf, according to a news release from ATELIER.
Wolf creates exquisite architectural forms exploring the meaning of physical space in our spiritual lives, the release states. His work asks, “from sacred altars to humble homes, where do we take refuge, where do we pause, where do we grow?”
The artist’s sculptures abound with metaphors of the human experience, as alluded to in evocative titles like “The Roots that Clutch,” “Glass Houses” and “Only the Wind’s Home.” The desire for shelter — both physically and psychologically — permeates his work.
Decidedly contemporary, Wolf’s art maintains an ongoing dialogue with history. It is rooted in classical architecture and pays homage to the Renaissance, as in the sculptor’s use of draped forms and natural pigments.
“Michael’s sculptures give the sense that they have been kissed ever so slightly by an influence of the American Craft movement,” ATELIER Director Sea Grandon said. “The works feel like little homes built classically and then swept over by a slight breeze of Americana.”
In curating ATELIER’s first solo exhibition of the new year, Grandon says she was drawn to Wolf’s ability to create meaning and emotion with repeated materials, geometry and colors.
“Michael’s work evokes complicated architecture in a reduced and refined manner, and the result is astonishingly modern and beautiful yet viscerally familiar,” she said. “I find his art speaks to something universal deep within us that seeks shelter and comfort.”
Grandon said architectural structures play a critical role in modern life, citing British philosopher and author Alain de Botton’s seminal work, “The Architecture of Happiness.”
“Belief in the significance of architecture is premised on the notion that we are … different people in different places — and on the conviction that it is architecture’s task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be,” de Botton wrote.
Grandon said domicilium is perfect for art enthusiasts looking to escape winter malaise in the Midwest and beyond.
“Michael is exploring home and hearth and the spaces that we as humans find sacred,” she said. “I hope visitors experience the sculptural works and the gallery space as a warm and inviting respite for the body and soul.”
“domicilium: a place to dwell” opens Thursday, Feb. 8 and runs through March 22. ATELIER’s hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Wolf is an NYC-area artist whose work encompasses sculpture, installation and drawing. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from William Paterson University, an Master of Arts from Kean College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Philadelphia College of Art.
Wolf has exhibited at the Orlando Museum of Art and collaborated with the NYC Parks Department on public sculpture installation. In 2020, he earned the Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation Residency at Mana Contemporary. He has served as a contributing writer to art publications Art Zealous and Whitehot Magazine.
In parallel with his solo exhibition at ATELIER, Wolf is showing work at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn.
ATELIER is a contemporary art gallery in Warsaw, owned and directed by Grandon. Grandon is a contemporary art advisor and attorney. ATELIER is her first gallery.
