Statement
My work is inspired by the individual and collective journeys that my late father and I had with his dementia. Caring for him at the end of his life had already prompted me to use mixed media and collage to visually preserve his insightful perspectives and illustrate vignettes of our experiences. Using a Gelli plate to print onto his paper memorabilia, which centers around his aeronautical engineering education and profession, is an important step in creating the monotypes I integrate into my work. Working with some of these items, such as graph papers, is a natural fit for me because I am drawn to working with grids and divisions as a designer. My compositions are often segmented or constructed as diptychs, reflecting the caregiving dyad, the dueling realities of a fragmented mind, or one straddling this physical world and what lies ahead. Through my process, I play with exposing and camouflaging collage elements, revealing multiple storylines. This visual exploration fortifies my abstract imagery, giving it direction and purpose, and my multi-step, layered creations result in “visual duets.”

Bio 
Monica DeSalvo is a Boston-based mixed-media artist and designer. She received her BFA in Visual Design from the University of Massachusetts. Her work has been shown in juried and invitational exhibitions and featured in Juniper Rag and Artscope magazines. DeSalvo’s work is part of collections throughout the US and Europe. She was a Core Member at Fountain Street Gallery in SoWa Boston from 2020–2024, and is an artist member at TAG The Art Gallery at the newly-formed New England Art Center. She lives and works out of her studio in Arlington, MA.

Work for Sale
A selection of work for sale on Artsy is represented by TAG The Art Gallery.