Michelle Uckotter

Working with oil pastel on wooden panels, Michelle Uckotter creates gothic tableaux which unpack dynamics between sexuality, performance and fear. Each work operates like a different box within a graphic novel, it’s up to viewers to piece together the narrative left untold by the artist. Often taking place in eerie domestic settings, decrepit house beams, dilapidated stair wells or moonlit corridors take centre stage. In some pieces the human form is present, in others, faceless, doll like anime figures come into view. As critic Daisy Sanchez comments, ‘Uckotter constructs these rooms on the verge of collapse, like women on the verge of a nervous breakdown.’ Outside of the domestic sphere, Uckotter also draws on tropes of popular culture, in particular the trends of the art world. A 2023 work for example titled ‘Basel girl’ depicts a woman on the phone, thrusting a gun towards the viewer, likening this gallerist more to a treacherous Bondwoman, or perhaps a heroine in an action movie. Uckotter takes inspiration from artists such as Francis Bacon and Hans Bellmer, whilst the aesthetic tropes of Japanese and Horror films also surface in the works. This rich pool of references concocts a somewhat foreboding atmosphere within Uckotter’s ouevre, as the works simultaneously traverse dark and humorous tones. ...