The incredible beauty of Monica Marioni's stunning, unconventional artwork lies in its elevation of detritus to the level of fetish, in that word’s original, primal meaning: objects blessed with holding the mystery of a universe grounded in ambivalence. Her work may appear to be an untamed archaeological dig into a corner of our collective psyche, yet Marioni's equally impressive skill lies in her control of the two-dimensional realm of the canvas, and in her choice of object, which is anything but random. A bit of chain stretched vertically down the canvas highlights that object’s significance--the chain as both a boundary as well as a means of linking. Like a Joseph Cornell box turned inside out, Marioni’s sculptures speak their own original language, with found objects displayed on canvas as their syntax.

Monica Marioni makes raw material of our industrialized, commercialized world, and forges visions of chaos as well as meaning, into audacious icons of memory and desire.