Sanctuary (in Fairyland)

Michael Wolf, No Sound of Water, 2021,
limestone, wood (cherry), oil, 24k gold leaf, 15 x 19 x 5 1/2 inches.

Artist’s Statement:

Two plus years out from the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, it can be difficult to recall the emotions and anxiety we felt during the initial lockdown. This series of drawings and sculptures emerged from that experience.

During the lockdown of spring 2020, I started to contemplate the idea of home as a sanctuary. At the beginning of the lockdown, our homes became spaces where we retreated from the world in an attempt to avoid the virus. Eventually, our homes started to feel like gilded cages. This exhibition explores how each of us tried to create our own sanctuary, either physically or psychologically during that period.

As lockdown restrictions eased in the fall of 2020 I was fortunate enough to participate in a residency at Mana Contemporary, sponsored by the Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation. There, I started a series of works on paper that morphed into sculptures and mixed media works that I eventually titled Sanctuary (in Fairyland). The title came from a social media post written by a British museum director that I read during the lockdown’s early days. To escape the monotony of lockdown confinement, he had been driving into the English countryside. He tells the story of taking refuge in a medieval church during a rainstorm in an area of England known for stories about fairies. He describes the feeling he had while taking refuge in the old church “we spent what felt like an enchanted time watching through the doorway as the rain lashed down on the Downs.”

Similarly, to escape the monotony of being in lockdown, my family and I had been taking drives into the rural areas of New Jersey. We would get in the car and drive with no destination in mind. We found ourselves on narrow rural roads discovering abandoned buildings, old graveyards, and once people sitting on lawn chairs in the middle of a river on a hot summer day. Many of these locations I had never visited before and would never be able to find again. While discovering these remote and tranquil places so close to home, I experienced a similar enchanted feeling to what the Englishman described.

The 19th-century writer Hilaire Belloc wrote that the best way to get to Fairyland is to lose your way. That is what we did. This series came about by having time to wander, get lost, explore, and encounter unique places. In the series Sanctuary (in Fairyland), I tried to capture those enchanted feelings of an energy beyond the physical realm.

Artist’s Bio

Michael Wolf is an NYC area artist whose work encompasses sculpture, installation, and drawing. Inspired by architectural forms, he uses them as a metaphor for the human experience. The desire for shelter physically and psychologically permeates his work. Wolf uses wood, stone, metal, and gold leaf to create contemporary art with an ongoing dialogue with history.

In 2020 Wolf completed a residency at Mana Contemporary sponsored by the Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation. His focus on works on paper led to his current series of sculptures, Sanctuary (in Fairyland). Wolf received individual fellowship grants from the NJ State Council of the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. He also received the Power of Art Award, personally presented by Robert Rauschenberg. Wolf’s architectural installation, Sanctuary, was the inspiration for an exhibition of the same name at the Orlando Museum of Art in Orlando, Florida.

He recently exhibited with Monica King Project at Intersect Aspen and online at Intersect Chicago/SOFA. His sculpture Sanctum was highlighted in the penthouse at 100 Franklin in Tribeca. Other exhibitions include a solo show at the Sculptors Guild Gallery in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and I’m Your Venus at Bee in the Lion gallery in Manhattan.

In the spring of 2021, the Center for Contemporary Art exhibited his installation Crossings. Wolf’s first international project was released in the spring of 2022. The Bau Container of Contemporary Culture organizers, based in Viareggio, Italy, invited Wolf to create a series of 120 prints to be included in the 2022 edition of the container. Bau will place the Container of Contemporary Culture in museums and libraries around Europe and America. He currently has a public sculpture installed on the Allen Street Mall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.