Forever in its pursuit, Monika Michalko is the wild beast which she seeks to tame.

In her current exhibition, Here in the Real World, Moni once again expects the viewer to leave their precocious id at the door and allow their concentration to shift into the facsimile of the Real that she demands. Using a fantastic language of line, color and repeated form, she brings us into a world where the journey is the destination.

Drawing on an extensive knowledge of art history, and disregarding most of it, her paintings recall elements of painters past, without pointing to any one in particular. The imagery and syntax are hers to do with as she pleases. She'll take you along, but you have to want it.