In his first solo exhibition at Gallery5, Richmond muralist Mickael Broth will kick off RVA First Fridays with his show “Signal Flare” in a collection of abstract art inspired by illumination and fire.
In his first solo exhibition at Gallery5, Richmond muralist Mickael Broth will kick off RVA First Fridays with his show “Signal Flare” in a collection of abstract art inspired by illumination and fire.
The show features a continuation of Broth’s abstract work, completed over the past year. “Signal Flare” includes large panel paintings and collage arrangements, as well as some suspended sculptural work.
“People should expect lots of highly saturated bright colors, chaotic compositions, energetic stuff, shiny things,” Broth said. “People like shiny things and there will be lots of shiny things.”
Taking a break from his mural work, Broth intends for this exhibit to be an opportunity for him to take advantage of the freedom that comes with presenting a gallery exhibit, as opposed to the restrictions placed on a piece of work completed on a public wall.
“A lot of working out in public is either restrained by either a client or even just self-imposed standards of decency,” he said. “Really I’d say that I approach it from a standpoint of it being work that’s seen in a gallery space rather than out in public so there should be a different reaction.”
The title, “Signal Flare,” is a reference to star shells used in World War I—flares fired into the sky to illuminate a battlefield.
“It’s abstract work, but it draws on descriptions of battle and also humans organizing for larger purposes,” Broth said. “That’s kind of where it also has larger meaning as a guiding light, like an illumination. I wanted to come up with a name that had something to do with light and fire.”
Broth expects the work to draw in a diverse crowd, similar to his past solo exhibition at Black Iris earlier this year.
“I had corporate clients who came and bought work from that show—big pieces for a corporate lobby—but also had a bunch of college kids coming and taking selfies in front of this grid wall of collages that I did,” he said. “It’s cool to me that different audiences can look at my shows and see something that resonates with them and doesn’t feel stifled like something in a museum.”
“Signal Flare” opens in a preview event on Thursday, September 1 from 6-8 p.m. and will be on display after First Friday until Sept. 24. Gallery5’s First Friday event on Sept. 2 runs from 6 p.m. until midnight and will include musical performances from White Laces, Chelsea Shag, and California Death.
