Mike McFalls

Studio Arts: Sculpture
BFA - The Columbus College of Art and Design
MFA - The University of California at Davis
e-mail: mcfalls_michael@colstate.edu
office: One Arsenal Place, Room 212
phone: 706-507-8306

Michael McFalls received his B.F.A. (cum laude) in Fine Arts from The Columbus College of Art and Design in 1998 and a M.F.A in Sculpture from The University of California at Davis. Prior to joining CSU he served as the Art Program Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Art, Sculpture at The University of Maine at Farmington. He has received numerous scholarships and awards, including the Pitzerker Foundation Endowed Fellowship in 2003. His residencies include Sculpture Space, Inc., 2003 and Djerassi Resident Artists Program, 2003. Some solo exhibitions include, in 2005, "Contemporary Sculpture" Valdosta State University Arts Gallery, Valdosta GA and in 2004, "Sediment" Thompson Gallery, Furman University, Greenville SC, 2004; "A Closer Look" Maine Center for Contemporary Art, Rockport ME. He has participated in group exhibitions such as "Natural", Zero Station Gallery, Portland ME, "Flat, Funk, & Physical" Cazenovia College Art Gallery, Cazenovia NY in 2006, "Pipe Works", Space Gallery, Portland ME, "Mother Nature", Kingfisher Projects, New York, NY, invitational, "Maine Biennial," Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport ME, in 2004. McFalls has lectured at Dartmouth College, Valdosta State University, and Furman University.

Artist statement

In this new body of work, I have explored the idea of beauty as it pertains to the changing contemporary landscape. This exploration began with an interest in consumer aesthetics and examining how it manipulates the perceptions of our everyday surroundings. Many of the individual works reflect the duel conversation of the present-day saccharin backdrop we all inhabit and its relationship with the transcendental powers of nature. Consequently, the results have a propensity to analyze the foreboding possibilities of this comparison, yet at the same time conceal it with humor and indifference.

This body of work delves into the juxtaposition of the naturally created form and its co-existence within the wholesale culture. The pieces are engaged in the interstitial zone where pedestrian fauna, pseudo nature, and the contradiction of the everyday experience collide with the idea of the sublime landscape. The works challenge ones perception of the landscape and attempts to obliterate the line between nature and popular culture. Together the pieces position themselves in a location where the artifice and the kitsch rub elbows with geo(logical) phenomenon.

For an exhibition history view resume (pdf)

Selected works