Tess Michalik

Samantha Haring and Tess Michalik m et while studying at Northern Illinois University and have maintained a friendship ever since. Though their respective techniques diverge, they find common ground in their romantic treatment of domestic subjects. Haring depicts bubble wrap, cardboard boxes, and glass jars with the masterful sensitivity of a Dutch still-life. Of her work, she says, “I make quiet paintings in a noisy world.” Inspired by vintage wallpaper designs, Michalik renders delicate floral subjects in voluptuous layers of impasto. “Painting is a celebration of joy, anxiety, simple pleasures,...