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Paula Schubatis (Detroit)

"It Is What It Needs To Be"

​February 7 - March 1, 2015

"It is what it needs to be. A nexus between error and truth, fashioned from seedlings of fact. Tumultuous objects are woven together through the delicate flirtation between order and chaos. They relish the freedom of impulse, but envy the luxury of control.

Intimate conversations with disparate times, events, and spaces seek to rest from the phenomena of the external world. Liminal pathways to ulterior realms are forged through gradations between puke green and mustard yellow. From particle to particle, without cessation, the movement passes on, reappearing under myriad protean forms, while rearrangements of particles incidental to the movement constitute the qualitative differences among things.

Any practice of matter, it is said, may be conceived to be annihilated, and any form may be conceived to be altered. I think, therefore I am. I am the captain of my fate; chance is a word devoid of meaning.

I hope you understand more of this than I do."

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Paula Schubatis is a purveyor of all things bright and glittery. Schubatis explores urban landscapes through woven textiles, paint, and found materials, using material remnants of the past to manipulate the tactile experience of the present, in an attempt to "assert connections to the past by strengthening links to the present", and blur the distinction between art and artifact.

Her process breaks down spaces into modular components, and reassembles them into monolithic structures, using her own contrived systems of hierarchy, informed by such institutions as philosophy, nature, science, and theology. These permutations of space attempt to relate to the world through the unique way they inhabit each space they are in, but often find themselves awkwardly alienated.

She describes herself as "captivated" by the interactions of colors and forms, and has an intimate and fluid understanding of their dynamic relationships.

Schubatis was born in Detroit. She attended the University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design where she received a BFA in 2013. Upon graduation, she was offered a residency at Detroit's Red Bull House of Art in Fall 2013, as well as at the Molzberger Academy in Hilmsen, Germany in August 2014. Schubatis also curates her own DIY art space, Da Bedroom, which utilizes her roommate's bedroom in her Detroit apartment as a gallery space.

Schubatis is currently the Michele Schara Artist in Residence at Detroit Community High School, in partnership with the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design. As a part of the residency, she and her quirky installations, have taken over the art classroom as her studio, affectionately referred to as "Paula- La-La-Land". Schubatis also collaborates with students on such community based projects such as Inspirational Typographic Interventions, a series of site specific installations of inspirational posters, as well as Pothole Prevention, a performance and series of site specific installations of civil service, filing potholes in the Brightmoor Neighborhood of Detroit with quirky unconventional materials such as glitter, resin, candy, and anything else fathomable to the pubescent mind.

Upcoming endeavors include Interwebz Café, a European-style Internet café in partnership with Da Bedroom, as well as an artist residency at Sekei Secondary School in Arusha, Tanzania in Summer 2015.

 

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