Michael DeMeng

Michael deMeng classifies his assemblages according to categories that include, “DeMented Toys,” “Shrines,” and “Haberdashery.” These works have in common their macabre themes, narrative threads, and kinetic elements. The artist is known for working exclusively with discarded materials, such as scrap metal, old household appliances, and detritus. In his words, his work “[is] about the transformation of the common into the sacred;” through it, he offers “examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever-changing.” Through the images in his works, deMeng sometimes alludes to contemporary culture, but more often he directly references motifs found on shrines from different cultures and in folklore.