“The power of what we see and how it alters our ability to find what we consider ‘happiness’ is something I find challenging and worth exploration.” – Margaret Archambault
Archambault's studio
In her 6th solo exhibit, In Ten's; A Single Century to Live, which opens on October 6th at Tim Faulkner Gallery, Margaret Archambault examines perception and mortality: “In essence, we measure our lives in 10 decades of experience. Some of us don't reach that 10th decade, but we all see our ‘life-time’ as potentially 100 years. Our personal perspective evolves through these years and our expectations related to happiness and fulfillment either becomes satisfied or we are left perpetually wanting. It is my goal with this new series to demonstrate the fallacy of the world being sold to us and focus on the world we can create within ourselves.”
Illusion versus reality is a frequent theme in art, but does it challenge our sanity to question the perception of our own existence. Archambault posits the opposite, that we are already inured from reality by the insulating cocoon of mass media. Her busy, kinetic compositions emulate in analog fashion the unyielding assault of visual information that we weather on an almost constant basis in our daily lives.
"We Are What We Were" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)
In “We Are What We Are,” Archambault breaks the pattern of dense collage slightly with the placement of one dominant figure, a 1920’s style woman representative of a pre-digital culture, but in a posture bent under the weight of 10 years of technological development.
“Regardless of our desires and often in direct defiance of our ‘plans’ the revolutions of time and the changes that come with it lead us to the revelations that alter our paths. My newest collection, the Silk Screen Series has a universal message about how our lives are affected by the world around us. More often than not, we make decisions based on what we think is expected of us, or what someone else wants us to do. These decisions often lead to destinations we never expected and only after we have arrived do we recognize the folly.”
Hometown: South Bend, Indiana
Education: BA, Interdisciplinary Humanities with Art Focus, Summa cum Laude, Spalding University, 2007
Gallery Representation: Tim Faulkner Gallery (Louisville)
Website: http://www.archambault-art.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/margaretarchambault
"A Book of Life" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)
"It's What You See, Not What You're Shown" by Margaret Archambault, 32x23in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2016), $850 | BUY NOW
"Celebration" by Margaret Archambault, 60x84in, oil and spray paint on canvas (2017)
Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved.
Are you interested in being on Artebella? Click here to learn more.