It was actually through my friend Ron, that I had the chance and good fortune to meet Michael Arata - Ron dragged him out to the airport with slides in hand.  There are few artists that have the power to seduce, either with their work or their personality that Michael has naturally - in pairs. 

What you're looking at is a blown-up laser jet print, a scanned slightly altered image of a "Missing Person" that is often found mixed in with the publicity in our mailboxes - in this case, a young girl.  It's already quite bizarre to get an announcement like this on a small flyer with the photo of the disappeared on one side and 10% off your next purchase of a large pepperoni pizza at Bob's Pizza Joint, let alone to see Michael's "portrait" larger than life.  What's the deal?  The deal is that it's a work that addresses two issues in Michael's répertoire that of the vide, the empty of what's not there and then trying to fill the void up - bring it alive.  And that of the missing, the gone, the un-trouvable, the un-found.  Any disappearance is a loss, a negative space that we try to fill by allowing other "forms" to take its place.  Cemeteries, monuments to the dead, statues, effigies are but a few ways we go about solidifying the absence - photo souvenirs above the fireplace are another.

In general, Michael's work leans toward a lighter humoristic tone that draws the viewer in before delivering the punch line.  In House-Home, Michael reminds us that that "missing" something is too dear to us, too important, too crucial to the stability and balance in our lives to be left "out" for too long.