BIRTHPLACE:   Mentor, OH BIRTH YEAR:   1973 LIVES IN:   Los Angeles, CA WORKS IN:   Los Angeles, CA

PHONE:   818-795-2162 WEBSITE:   http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/m... TAGS:   surreal, spiritual, representational, portrait, pencil, pastel, paper, painting, Painter, nude, graphite, gouache, figurative, fantasy, drawing, digital-art, digital, canvas, black-and-white, acrylic, abstract, Art

 "Art making is an exploration of emotion, intellect, physicality and spirituality.  It is a manifestation of the interplay between the conscious and unconscious mind.  Human beings tend to have an inherent appetite for altered states of consciousness.  Art can be a conduit for this kind of experience.  It can help us to break free from the imprisoning models of reality that we create by our own minds.  Art making is a way to experience a kind of freedom from the trappings of rational perception.  It is a method for counter-balancing the restricting formalities of contemporary civilized existence.  Ultimately, art is a metaphor for the spiritual and philosophical ideas of life that cannot be otherwise expressed."

 

ABSTRACT PAINTINGS 2002-2008

These paintings are a re-examination of nature.  There's a psychological shift that occurs with abstract painting.  It opens me up so that I may tap into the rhythm of everything around me.  I become a kind of dance partner of nature.  Together, nature and I, we create these rhythms, shapes and patterns in a visual and conceptual space.  My earliest paintings depicted the rhythm of places and objects.  This transformed into expressing the rhythm of the mind.  The landscape became the realm of the unconscious perspective.  Some of these paintings depict an emotional and psychological state of being, while others express a spiritual event or transformation.  Later, the work became an attempt to depict the rhythms that exist beyond the psychological subjective point of view.  The challenge then became how to rhythmically interpret the landscape of multiple dimensions of reality interpreted through the collective unconscious.  Ultimately, I hope the viewer will allow themselves to reflect on how the work makes them feel by projecting their own ideas about its meaning and content.  These pieces should be a screen onto which one can project their own experience.

 

DIGITAL PAINTINGS 2000-2008

I wanted to examine how digital painting is a reflection of evolution.  Our current cultural landscape is inundated with the preoccupation of human augmentation.  Humanity is being manipulated and modified at an exponential rate as a result of the advent of technology.  Therefore, I've done the same thing with these paintings - a digitally manipulated and modified image of humankind.  I've placed many of these pieces in the landscape of myth and legend.  At the very foundation of human expression is the impulse to translate story.  Myth and legend have evolved in unison with the evolution of the human race.  Misinterpretation and distortion is often their result, creating an evolution of its meaning and substance for the purpose of individualized significance.

 

DIGITAL INTEGRATION PAINTINGS 2008

Having worked with both digital and traditional mediums for several years, I felt it was time to synthesize them together.  The first half of this union started with a painting, completed with traditional mediums.  The second half involved reversing the color palette digitally and selecting the right balance of color, shape and pattern to emphasize the amalgamation.  The digital impression was then attached to the surface of the original painted canvas.  Ultimately, the integration of these two mediums sheds light on the opposing characteristics of the mediums, and the contrasting techniques of painting that occur while creating this paradoxical union.

 

FIGURE DRAWINGS 1993-1999

Having worked as an actor, dancer and model I discovered truth's tendency to become clouded in the eyes of the beholder.  What may appear blissful to the audience may in fact be painful to the performer.  The viewer's experience often supplants the one being viewed, reducing the figure to a tool for emotional truth.  These drawings depict expressive suppression - the perception of external calm amidst internal turmoil.

 

  

BIOGRAPHY

Born in 1973, Michael grew up in central Ohio with an eclectic childhood.  He excelled in academics, athletics, art, music and writing.  In high school, he was inducted into the National Honor Society, won the Westerville Art League Scholarship, the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award, the Quill and Scroll Journalism Award, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and was inducted into Who's Who in American High Schools 1991. 

On scholarship, he attended Columbus College of Art and Design and also studied theatre at Ohio State University.  While at OSU, he won the Gerald Black Theatre Scholarship and the Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle Award.  He also became a Partner of Conscience with Amnesty International. 

In 1997, he and his wife moved to southern California where his work in theatre earned him a nomination at the Los Angeles Robby Awards and an honorable mention at the Back Stage West Garland Awards.  His artwork has placed him as a finalist in The Artist's Magazine's Best Art awards, and his writing has placed him as a semi-finalist in Scriptapalooza.  He is also a member of American Mensa and was inducted into Who's Who in America 2007.

Today he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children.

 

EXHIBITIONS

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Featured Artist / Borders, Glendale, CA


Group Exhibitions

2008 New and Improved / LACDA, Los Angeles, CA
2007 Small Wonders III / Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Sharing Space VIII / Infusion Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005 Small Wonders / Pharmaka Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005 Show of Heads / Limner Gallery, Phoenicia, NY
2005 Snap to Grid 2005 / LACDA, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Snap to Grid 2004 / LACDA, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Random Thoughts / Lankershim Art Gallery, North Hollywood, CA
2003 You Are Here II / Lankershim Art Gallery, North Hollywood, CA
2003 Sharing Space IV / Lankershim Art Gallery, North Hollywood, CA
1991 Westerville Youth Art Exhibit / Westerville, OH
1991 Marcon Sci-Fi Art Exhibit / Columbus, OH
1991 Ohio Regional Art Exhibit / Columbus, OH
1991 Ohio Governor's Art Exhibit / Columbus, OH


Awards & Honors

2006 Finalist (Abstract/Experimental Category) - The Artist's Magazine Best Art of 2006
1991 Best of Show - Westerville Youth Art Exhibit / Westerville, OH
1991 First Prize - Marcon Sci-Fi Art Exhibit / Columbus, OH
1991 Blue Ribbon - Ohio Regional Art Exhibit / Columbus, OH
1991 Regional Excellence Award - Ohio Governor's Art Exhibit / Columbus, OH