Noelle Allen: Chicago

I never imagined anyone taking artistic inspiration from high-school biology classes…but then again, I never imagined finding inspiration for anything other than a good nap. While I was staring vacantly into space as my teacher tried to placate the Creationists, I may have missed whole worlds of possibility under the microscope. Noelle Allen must have seen something I didn’t, as evidenced by her abstract line drawings and watercolors. Allen’s creations evoke fossilized creatures and cross-sections of organic cells, as if you are seeing something familiar yet at a microscopic level. Her most recent works were created using graphite on mylar, giving them a strange ethereal quality which adds to their creepiness. An exhibition of some of her work can be found at the MCA in Chicago until July 1.