Michel Droge: Dreams from the Bardo, the artist’s solo exhibition in the Danforth Gallery this fall, features works they developed from imagery and experiences aboard a deep sea research vessel where they were an artist-in-residence in 2023. Embedded with a team of scientists gathering data and imagery from the deep ocean, Droge, a celebrated and Maine-based artist, observed the remarkable creatures and environments of virtually unknown depths with the Schmidt Ocean Institute ROV Dive Team as they conducted research aboard the Falkor (Too) in June of 2023. The group went beyond the Midnight Zone, an area of ocean so deep it is constantly in darkness, to the Abyssal Plain at approximately 3000 meters. Droge's large-scale charcoal drawings and paintings bring the rarely-seen and vital deep ocean and its moving stories into the space of the Danforth Gallery. 

 

Droge’s recent imagery centers on brooding mother octopuses, solitary creatures who only gather together (if they do) once in their lives, when they nurture nascent octopus young for four years until the eggs hatch, the longest known gestation of any animal on earth, and during which the octopus mothers don’t move or take nourishment. Clustered together in a sort of oceanic “nursery” where heat vents near the ocean floor create the ideal temperature for brooding, the mothers slowly die as they nurture their eggs, making life and death coincident in the continuation of this ancient species. Droge views this transition that the octopus mothers experience in creating life and leaving it within the framework of one of the four bardos described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, an in-between interval between death and rebirth. Droge works from deep sea footage of the extraordinary brooding of octopuses in combination with dreamed and discovered imagery, yielding an interpretation of a stirring natural instance of life, death, birth, and continuity in the profound depths of the ocean.

 

Over the past few months, while an invited artist in residence at the celebrated Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, Droge recorded their dreams and dove more extensively into dream study. They write, of Doldrum’s Fracture Zone, on view in this exhibition: “These instructions came to me in a dream - to draw the sea floor in a series of 5 12-inch squares. The next day I read the recent news from Schmidt Ocean Institute about the Doldrums Fracture Zone, a massive, active tectonic fault located in the Mid Atlantic Ridge off the northeast coast of Brazil. It is an area that is teeming with new discoveries of unknown heat vents and massive amounts of unexpected life mirroring the ways in which sometimes in the quietest, most uneventful times of lull - there is unexpected excitement and discovery - new life - creative life force and action.” 

 

The deep-ocean research in which Droge participated is undertaken with an eye on the impending dangers of deep sea mining and the impact on these fragile communities. The deep sea is an animated, queer and wondrous place full of life that is rarely encountered by humans. In light of current demands for metals and minerals found abundantly on the sea floor and the impending risks of unregulated exploitation by mining, Droge and the scientists with whom they collaborate want to share the vibrancy of the deep sea to raise awareness of the urgent need for the protection and conservation of these fertile, queer and vital ecosystems.

 

Michel Droge will offer an artist’s tour of their exhibition at the opening reception September 10 at 4:00 p.m. Droge and Dr. Beth Orcutt of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay, Maine will offer a public discussion of their work together aboard the Falkor (Too) and their shared passion for the deep ocean at a talk October 8 (World Octopus Day) at 12:00 p.m. A livestream of their conversation will be available for those unable to attend in person. 

 

About the Artist

Michel Droge is a multimedia artist whose work is inspired by oceanic field study, ancient Greek mythology, philosophy, poetry. and collaborative scientific research. Their paintings, drawings, prints, and immersive installations frame the deep sea as a mysterious, unseen, queer, and generative space intrinsically connected to all earthly life forms. 

 

“Across my work, I aim to surface the aesthetic, emotional, political, and environmental implications of uncertainty. To bring mystery and wonder to the forefront and share a poetic expression of science and philosophy. By foregrounding the instability inherent in both natural systems and artistic processes, I seek to create visual spaces that invite reflection on how we perceive, inhabit, and imagine our rapidly changing world.”- Michel Droge

 

Droge is a  2026-2027 Fulbright Scholar, a recipient of a Joan Mitchell award, a co-recipient of the Kindling Fund grant, and three Maine Arts Commission grants. They have been awarded fellowships at the Joan Mitchell Center, Maine Environmental Arts Residency, Surf Point Foundation, Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, and The Tides Institute, amongst others. Recent exhibitions include The Frost Museum, Art Basel Miami, The Field Museum, The Cue Art Foundation, Bates College Art Museum, University of Maine Orono and Augusta, Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA and the Maine Jewish Museum.