There are ideal situations, and what is an ideal situation is an extremely subjective thing. When I begin working, I attempt to span the distance between my day to day reality, and a perfect state that may never be realized. It is a territory riddled with possibilities, dead ends, and false starts.
There are contradictions and compromises everywhere-it is as if our needs and desires run parallel with our lives but never fully meet. Only through stories and imagined scenarios can they have a life of their own.
At times my work is bright and optimistic, while at other times I am drawn to darker psychological states: failure, embarrassment, and insecurity. Contemporary life is characterized by a dense, fast-paced present in which the fluctuations between these states are constant and unmediated. I seek to expose and describe the here and now through free associations between experiential reality and creative imagination. Using the processes of drawing, sewing and printing, I am constantly searching for strategies to intensify the present moment and illuminate the conflicted aspects contemporary existence.
Bio
Angela Malchionno works in print media, fiber, and installation. She received her MFA in Printmaking from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (2007) and her BFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2002). Malchionno maintains a studio in St. Louis, MO, where where she teaches printmaking and drawing at Washington University.
