Michael-Wolf-Artist-Statement-and-Bio

Michael Wolf Artist Statement It is not known when the first seaborne human migrations occurred as it happened long before recorded history For millennia humans have sought a better life by leaving their homes and traveling to new lands Often that trip involved crossing seas and oceans From the 15th - 20th Centuries, many individuals and families left (or were taken) from their homelands to come to America, a majority traveled by boat Many were desperate to escape economic hardship, famine, and war Some of my ancestors were part of the mass migration that fled Ireland in the years after the Great Famine In the early years of the migration, many people died of illness during the journey Those boats became known as Coffin Ships Some of the most well-known migrations by boat include the Mariel Boatlift Boatlift, which occurred when Fidel Castro suddenly started allowing people to leave Cuba freely in 1980 Between April 15 and October 31, approximately 125,000 Cubans and Haitians fled to America in overcrowded and sometimes unseaworthy vessels At the end of the Vietnam War, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people crowded into over-packed boats fleeing to neighboring countries to escape the chaos Most recently are the vivid images of Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country in all manner of crowded boats and rafts And most hauntingly, approximately 12.5 million Africans were ripped from their homes and taken to all parts of the world, including America, as enslaved people Two million never survived the trip This installation is my reflection on these events Michael Wolf www.michaelwolfsculpture.com Recognition Eileen S Kaminsky Family Foundation, Residency at Mana Contemporary 2020 NJ State Council on the Arts, Individual Fellowship Grant 1990 Geraldine R Dodge Foundation, Fellowship Grant 1998 Robert Rauschenberg: The Power of Art Award, 1997 Monmouth Museum, Honorable Mention 34th Annual Exhibition 2012 Geraldine R Dodge Foundation, Mini-Grants 1999-2008 NJ State Council on the Arts, Residency Artist-Teacher Institute 1996 Sam Maloof Scholarship, Anderson Ranch Arts Center 1988 Sculptors Guild, Board Member 2014 - 2020 Select Exhibitions 2020 Penthouse at 100 Franklin, Monica King Contemporary with KV Projects 2020 ‘Wish You Were Here’, Monica King Contemporary, Tribeca, NYC 2020 Spring to Action, Monica King Contemporary, Tribeca, NYC 2019 I’m Your Venus, Bee in the Lion Gallery, NY, NY 2019 Inversions, RIVAA Gallery, Roosevelt Island, NY 2018 Politics of Space, Plaxall Gallery, LIC, NY 2018 Defining Form, The Untitled Space, Tribeca, NY, NY 2017 Currently 80, Westbeth Gallery, Greenwich Village, NY, NY 2017 American Twist, Antenna Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana 2016 Art Connections, George Segal Gallery, Montclair University, NJ Juror, Willie Cole 2016 Activate Market St Project, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ 2015 Structure, Solo show at Sculptors Guild Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2015 Sanctuary, Orlando Museum of Art, FL Curator, Coralie Claeyson-Gleyzen, OMA 2014 Viridian Artist Gallery, NY, NY Curator, Katherine Brinson, Guggenheim Museum 2014 The Collective Curiosity of the Photographic Eye, Compton Gallery, Boonton, NJ 2014 Emrupt: International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Leigh Wen Fine Art, Chelsea, NY, NY Exhibitions 2020 Intersect Chicago/SOFA Art Fair, Monica King Contemporary 2020 HomeMADE, BAM Art Advisory, Larchmont, NY 2020 Small Works, Wedge Studio, Brooklyn, NY 2020 Free Enterprise, BSB Gallery Trenton, NJ 2020 Digital Open House, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ 2020 Art Fair 14C Juried Show, Jersey City, NJ 2019 Infinity Wars, Solo Virtual Exhibition, Shoebox Space 2019 Priority Mail, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2019 Crashing the Party, Plaxall Gallery, LIC, NY 2019 Rendering Likness Volume 2, Established Gallery Brooklyn, NY 2019 Pairings, Plaxall Gallery, LIC, NY 2018 Somewhere Over the Interconnected Rainbow, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ 2017 Sculptors Guild Gala, Jim Kempner Fine Art, NY, NY 2017 Currently 80, Sculptors Guild, Governors Island, NY, NY 2017 Step Into Liquid, Gallery Ovo, South Orange, NJ 2016 In Flux, Gallery at 14 Maple, Morristown, NJ 2016 Images for Remembrance, The Maloney Gallery, College of St Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ 2016 New Conceptions, Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation, Greenwich Village, NY, NY 2016 Unusual Politics: The Madness of Reality, Viridian Artist Gallery, Chelsea, NY, NY 2016 American Twist, Sculptors Guild, Governors Island, NY, NY 2016 From Virtual to Actual 4, Viridian Artist Gallery, Chelsea, NY, NY 2015 Laws of Attraction, Sculptors Guild, Governors Island, NY, NY 2014 International Juried Exhibition, The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ 2014 Transformation, Sculptors Guild, Governors Island, NY, NY 2014 35th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ 2014 Home, Maloney Art Gallery, College of St Elizabeth, Madison, NJ 2014 Scaled to Fit, Sculptors Guild Gallery, DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY, NY 2014 Faculty Exhibition, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ 2013 Alumni Show, Power Art Gallery, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ 2013 Working it Out, The Painting Center, Chelsea, NY, NY 2012 34th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ 2008 The Cradle Project, Banque Loft Building, Albuquerque, NM 2008 Inside and Out: Geraldine R Dodge Foundation Visual Artist Fellows, Maloney Gallery, College of St Elizabeth, Madison, NJ 2008 Sanctuary, College of St Elizabeth, Madison, NJ 2007 Four Artists, Atrium Gallery, Morristown, NJ 2005 Sanctuary: An Architectural Installation, Power Art Gallery, Wayne, NJ 2002-03 Interpretations of 90, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ 1996 Art About Ideas, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ Education MFA William Paterson University MA Kean College BFA Philadelphia College of Art