Nancy Unger

STATEMENT

You get to a point in your life when you can reflect on the life you built based on the choices you made, while gazing at potential futures, unbound by the choices you have yet to decide upon.

In my work I have chosen to use industrial materials to signify the foundation of our lives, the domiciles and work spaces we inhabit. They are imperfect as our lives are imperfect. I reflect this in the texture, complexity and visual interest in the way I distress and use these matierals.

I then contrast this with the images I bring to life to represent the memories, hopes and aspirations that we strive towards with the fabric of our souls.

The holistic representation of each art piece represents our lives.

In this trying time our homes have become schools, offices, entertainment places, restaurants and more. It is more important than ever that what we share space with is more representational of our journeys and the dream of where and who we wish to be. The work has become sculptural and mixed media using multiple images along with concrete, glass, steel and found objects including local reclaimed wood and vintage auto parts. The images are accumulated on a fairly daily basis, capturing either nature at its most perfect self or the ordinary and mundane or forgotten—the cast away objects. Included in the mix of nature and man made subject matter are some figurative images, but minimally as to slightly and cautiously guide the humanistic experience.

The viewers response is high engagement and time spent exploring and moving around each piece, deciding what it is that they are experiencing— allowing for slightly different perspectives based on the viewers own life experiences.
My work now accurately reflects my life—complicated, meaningful and layered.

BIO

Moving to NYC after receiving a BFA from the University of Delaware in Photography I used my art to shock and be aggressive with my images, which were primarily nude women expressing challenges with self-perception, both physically and emotionally.

I now live in the Metro Detroit area with my husband/creative partner and 3 children. Compared to my single years living in NYC, my life now is so much more complicated and layered and my work now reflects the complex and textured quality of a life rich in experiences.

EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS/COMMISSIONS

2020 In The Beginning | Detroit Center for Design + Technology, Detroit MI
“It Always Was” selected as part of group show

2019 Hatchback 13 | Hatch Art, Hamtramck MI
“City God” selected as part of annual collective show

2019 OUR TOWN | Community House, Birmingham MI
“Contentment”, “Promises” and “Water” selected as part of annual collective show

2015 Art Prize | Grand Rapids, MI
“Gold” selected as a part of the annual art exhibition & contest

2014 ABUNDANT FIELDS, the art of Nancy & Jason Unger | Studio D, Birmingham, MI
2-month show of selected artworks with a piece auctioned for charity along with a
portion of the sales supporting Gleaners Food Bank

2010 Art Prize | Grand Rapids, MI
“Michigan Study #5” selected as a part of the annual art exhibition & contest

2003 Little Slices of Heaven | Clone-a-chrome Gallery, New York, NY
“Blue Portrait” exhibited as part of a group show. Co-curated this show.

EDUCATION

1983-1987 BFA, Photography | University of Delaware

AWARDS

Commissions / Corporate Collections

2017 “Michigan Mural”
MGM GRAND CASINO, Detroit | Installation as part of the Roasted Bean Coffee Bar

2016 “Crystalline”
Parabolic, Birmingham, MI | Permanent Private Collection

2014 “Michigan Study #5”
The Mars Agency, Southfield, MI | Permanent Collection

2008 “Shells”
Donald Marks, DDS, State College, PA | Permanent Collection

2007 “Pink Lily”
Alliance Bernstein, New York, NY | Permanent Collection

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Concept Director, Parabolic

Film Historian, Kobal Collection

Intern, New York Women in Film

TAGS

Abstract Photography, Mixed Media, Assemblage, Dimensional