Pale Grass Blue

Misha Ilin’s latest body of work asserts that ecocide, wars, body politics, and capital each exist as a sort of radioactive event, altering and reshaping the genome of what we term reality. As these normalized, so-called actions seep toxins into the fabric of the sociopolitical environment and geographical landscapes, things become increasingly blurry, hazy, and loopy.

In response to philosopher Timothy Morton’s theoretical assertion of the hyperobject, Pale Grass Blue slips into the void. The exhibition includes a suite of new installations, found objects, video, directives, and other textual elements. Using both natural and artificial materials, such as drywall, floodlights, spray paint, clay, sand, and joint compound, Ilin immerses visitors in a surreal, shimmering landscape that reflects a sort of porosity. There, fractures that distort our everyday modes of thought and social relation are compounded. In signifying moments of slippage, mutation, and critical mass, Ilin’s work sounds an alarm that calls attention to the permeability of our bodies and collective consciousness. To offer broader context for his latest work, Ilin shares the following, 

“Akin to scratchy rays of radiation that burn and mutilate, events that have transpired and continue to effect change long after we are gone. We are left new and bizarre, like the wings of a mutated pale grass blue.”

Artist

Misha Ilin (b. 1985; Protvino, Russia) earned his MA in Mathematics and Informatics from the National University of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia; and MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD.