About

Statement

Rooted in a desire to work with materials to better understand environmental challenges, my work consists of the unification of fabricated metal elements and found objects/materials in large-scale sculptures and installations. My practice has evolved through influences from architecture, historical technical processes, and material ontology. I fabricate emulations of society, using the art object as a vehicle for examining the evolution of the human condition through material and space. I focus on moments where the past and present compare and contrast one another, and reflect upon what happens when a material creates a dialogue about our effect on the world.

Bio

Michael Thron (born 1990) in Stamford CT, is an MFA graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and received his BFA from Syracuse University. His practice investigates materiality, entropy, and object ontology. Through gathering, manipulation, and replication his work acts as a conduit to examine the evolution of the self. It sometimes acts as a reminder of personal identity, memory, and the human condition. Michael was raised on the shores of industrial Stamford, CT. Growing up he remembers the scent of fish and low tide in the harbor, walking along the endless rows of boats like soldiers waiting for the return of fish in the spring surf. The nearby warehouses in ruin, or filled with metalworkers and masons. These environments shaped him into a maker, and this is where his fascination with craft, industry, and the natural elements collided. He is drawn to these waning industries as if they are myths or artifacts of lost civilizations, applying this sentiment to his sculptural practice. Michael is an award recipient of the International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Achievement Award in Sculpture, The Mid-Atlantic Sculpture Prize, and Emerging Scene Art Prize Dubai. As well has been a resident artist at Salem Art Works and Gilbertsville Expressive Movement. He has exhibited at the London Biennale, Everhart Museum, and Katonah Museum of Art, and is part of the Studio 80 Sculpture Park, Salem Art Works, and St Anselm’s Abby public collections.