Michael McFalls

installation of <i> Geoform 6.8 (Unfettered Growth 2)</i> with painting by Molly Levine
installation of Geoform 6.8 (Unfettered Growth 2) with painting by Molly Levine

Featured in Stratum May 2009


Michael McFalls's sculptures are geological but their position in the chasm between natural and artificial is complex and multifaceted. The sculptures evoke both the plastic palette of a Wal-mart aisle but have the grace and presence of something created by the elements. Combining waste and strongly colored plaster, McFalls makes sculptures that seem like they were shaped by a millennia of geological forces at work...on a day-glo planet...from apocalyptic rubble! It is a combination of the kitschy residue of human life and the profound phenomenon of creation (also an act of accumulation) because, as McFalls says, "the creative impulse for (his) work has emerged from the interstitial zone located between the modern juxtaposition of naturally created and man-made objects". The result is work that, despite valuing human production, critiques consumption while wavering between being awe-inspiring and mischievously vulgar. McFalls teaches art at the University of Maine-Farmington and has exhibited nationwide.

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