Michelle Segre

NORTH ROOM

Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent sculptures by Michelle Segre.

In Driftloaf, Michelle Segre creates simple but abject forms constructed from bread, stone, wire and papier mậché. Reminiscent of Yves Klein’s sea sponge sculptures or amateur driftwood assemblages, the sculptures continue Segre's exploration of the mutation of living matter.

Earlier works meditated on fungal forms. Actual mushrooms and mushroom-like shapes were combined through an organic, additive process that operated much like a slowly sprawling mold. In the sculptures, fungus has been replaced with yeast as a point of interest; yeast has a genetic code which contains information handed down through millennia. In these sculptures, bread fragments are dried and drilled and become letters in an alphabet for a language of ancient origins.

Michelle Segre works and lives in New York City. Segre has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and has had recent solo shows at University of Tennessee and University of Albany. She is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and The Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York. Segre is a past recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award. Driftloaf will be Segre’s sixth exhibition at Derek Eller Gallery.