Michael Velliquette: What We Are Looking For is What is Looking

January 11 - February 21, 2016
Artist Talk and Reception Thursday February 4, 2016 5-7pm

Marian Gallery
Mount Mary University
2900 North Menomonee River Parkway
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53222-4597

Mount Mary University presents a solo exhibition by Michael Velliquette, a mixed media artist known for his elaborate collages and sculptures made from cut paper.

For his project at the Marian Gallery Velliquette created a site-specific, collaged-based mural that covers the entire surface of the gallery’s 1800 square feet of wall space. In preparation for the exhibition, Velliquette painted and drew unique surface treatments on over 100 large rolls of drawing paper. Over the course of the installation the paper rolls were cut, layered, and pinned to the walls in vibrant, abstract arrangements.

The exhibition is inspired in part by an illuminated stained glass representing St. Francis of Assisi that is on permanent view in the Marian Gallery. The exhibition’s title, “What We Are Looking For is What is Looking” refers to a quote commonly misattributed to the saint, and which speaks to underlying themes in Velliquette’s work surrounding the nature of perception, sensation, matter, and consciousness. Color also plays a powerful role in Velliquette’s work and acts to convey a sense of optical fullness, or visual abundance in the eyes of viewer. The labor-intensive nature of Velliquette’s practice is also foregrounded in much of his work and correlates to a kind of studio-induced mindfulness.