Michael Rocco Ruglio-Misurell

Enough to Divide a Room: Michael Rocco Ruglio-Misurell is a solo exhibition in Helen Day Art Center's East Gallery featuring the work of Berlin-based artist Michael Rocco Ruglio-Misurell. Through prints and sculpture, his new work explores the fluctuation between appearance and disappearance, creating both beautifully poetic and spectral objects. The work is generated from debris and found objects of urban culture, often infused with a strong history. He uses these materials either in the work itself or as a mask or stencil, and pairs with spray paint, fabric or concrete to create new work. The effect is surprising - the transformation from collected detritus into cleanly designed sculptures and prints creates a subtle lightness and ephemeral quality. This duality creates layers of meaning and emotion within work that explains the beauty of organized chaos. 

Michael Rocco Ruglio-Misurell (b. Newark, NJ) is a Berlin-based artist with a BFA from The Art Institute of Boston and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2009, Ruglio-Misurell was a Fulbright Fellow in Berlin. Past residencies include Vermont Studio Center (2016), Skowhegan (2011) and Ox-Bow (2008) and recent exhibitions include a two person show at LVL3 in Chicago (2016) and a two person show at Aunt Linda in Berlin (2016). The sculptures and prints in the exhibition represent recent explorations during a residency at Heilstätte Grabowsee, an abandoned sanatorium in Oranienburg, Germany and most recently, Mass MoCA. 

Enough to Divide a Room: Michael Rocco Ruglio-Misurell is curated by Rachel Moore, Director & Chief Curator, Helen Day Art Center.