GROUNDBREAKING

Chinatown Soup is pleased to present Groundbreaking, an exhibition of oil paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Tess Michalik, on view from April 9 - 21, 2024.

The titular riff on Miranda Priestley's iconic, sardonic “florals for spring" movie moment invites viewers to pause and contemplate the collective relief and wonder of flowers breaking ground. This is how Tess's impasto floral motifs make people feel, eliciting a visceral response that is “unhinged and possessed, like a merge of deKooning and Kate Spade” as Eva Samaha writes for The Provincetown Independent. We can confirm installing the artworks was fighting the urge to bite and grab at thick strokes of petals that appear still wet, “rippling with the energy of the season.”

Tess’s brushwork channels a blend of fervor and finesse, reflecting the tumultuous transition from darkness to light, from winter's stillness to spring's explosive renewal. Painting becomes her way of sitting with change and ambiguity, as Li Po's verse beautifully captures:

And if you ask how I regret that parting:

          It is like the flowers falling at Spring's end

                   Confused, whirled in a tangle.

What is the use of talking, and there is no end of talking,

There is no end of things in the heart.

Likewise, for Tess, each brushstroke becomes a tangle of anxiety and a cathartic expression ultimately transformed into a glorious whirl of color and texture. Through her artistic process, Tess invites us to confront the ambiguous heart space, finding solace in the act of creation, in the connections forged through shared humanity cycling with Nature, and in the endless presence of joy and hope.

Born in Richmond Virginia, Tess Michalik received a BFA from Herron School of Art in 2010 and an MFA from Northern Illinois University in 2014. She has exhibited nationally and internationally at contemporary art fairs including Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Papier Montreal, etc. In 2018, Tess had her first museum exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Manitoba, Canada, where her paintings were exhibited among pieces from the institution’s Decorative Arts collection including 18th century French and English ceramic objects and William Morris textiles.  She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. 

Additional artworks by Tess are available with The Gilded Owl in Palm Springs, Dianna Witte Gallery in Toronto, and Provincetown, MA with The Schoolhouse Gallery.