Michelle Alexander : MY BODY / YOUR OBJECT
@ Matthew Heberlein contemporary
dm @ fallenroyalty or 832 4834911 for address
Opening Friday, February 14th, from 6PM - 11PM
On view through Friday, March 14th
MY BODY / YOUR OBJECT
To be walked on. To be held. To be consumed. To be stared at. To be dismissed. To be owned.
This exhibition is born from the visceral experience of being seen as an object—something to be used, possessed, discarded, hated or loved. It is an attempt to visualize and process that reality, to transform it into something tangible, something undeniable.
In this space, the human body is fragmented and reassembled as object. Images of the artist are laid bare covering the floor, no longer just images but things. Things to be looked at, walked on, stepped over, trampled underfoot. Things to be opened, drank, enjoyed, and used for pleasure, maybe broken and thrown away. The viewer is not passive but implicated, made to feel the weight of their presence, the entitlement of their participation. With each step, they press their footprint into the work, into the body. With each sip, the work might become more viewer than artist.
The gallery itself is destabilized, as is the expected role of the audience. You do not simply observe; you interact, consume, and in doing so, destroy. The work is not static—it is altered by your engagement, your indifference, your hesitation. Are you the observer, or are you the perpetrator?
There is also the option to not participate. You are not bound by the need to tread on what has been laid before you. The act of choosing not to step on the work—by resisting the impulse to assert ownership, to claim dominion—is itself a powerful statement. In that choice, you may choose to honor the object, to recognize its humanity, and in doing so, reclaim agency.
This show is not just about the objects in the room but about you—your presence, your role, your complicity. The lines between body and object, subject and possession, value and disposability blur. The question is not just how we are seen but who gets to see, who gets to take, and who gets to leave.
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Tags: Chicago, Loop, Matthew Heberlein Contemporary, Michelle Alexander, Michelle Alexander Art
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