Heart: Portals of Connection
Michelle Hoogveld’s vibrant heart-shaped sculptures featured in Heart: Portals of Connection offer an invitation to explore the depths of human connection. These striking, mirror-image pieces act as symbolic gateways, reflecting the inextricable links that bind us all. Commissioned by Brookfield Properties Arts & Events, the work’s bold gradients of color ignite within each heart, emphasizing the emotional flow and shared experiences that unite us across cultures and boundaries. As metaphorical portals, the works provide a space for introspection on love, compassion, and the transformative power of human connection. Heart: Portals of Connection celebrates the beauty of emotional resonance, highlighting the potential for growth, healing, and unity in our collective journey. Through these sculptures, Hoogveld opens a space for viewers to reflect on the infinite possibilities that emerge when we embrace the full spectrum of connection, encouraging a more compassionate, inclusive and colorful approach to the world around us.
The installation is on view behind the turnstiles in the lobby at 200 Liberty Street within Brookfield Place.
About the artist:
Michelle Hoogveld is a Canadian contemporary artist whose vibrant style is inspired by color theory, connection, and matters of the heart. Her works embody bold patterns and textile-like blockings of color, weaving together an intricate portrayal of who we areas people, the places we encounter, and the one thing that connects us all—love. Creating a visual language that draws upon human emotion and the resonance of color, Hoogveld merges intuition with intention, thoughtfully intertwining gestural marks and washes with hard-edge painting. Drawing inspiration from geometric abstraction, colorfield painting, and abstract expressionism, Michelle employs color theory alongside spontaneous combinations of color, resulting in compositions that dance between movement and form. Hoogveld has a multidisciplinary academic background in Visual Communication and Design from Lynn University and a BEd in Art Education from the University of British Columbia. Her abstract works are internationally recognized, beautifying and uplifting spaces in both the private and public realm. Showcased in Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, France, Peru, Mexico, Germany, Portugal, England, and Spain, Hoogveld aims to push the boundaries where color and emotion coalesce, celebrating the richly saturated, ever-changing expressions of the heart.
