A statement from the artist....

My work is devoted to Motion and the realtionships of Colors. I am striving for a combination of balance, movement, unity, and expression of the beauty of color. This type of painting is directly related to my older holocaust works(go here)or the printmaking section:(go here); as far as compostion and movement go see the similarities with your own eyes by comparing to the other works in the site.

People often ask me of influences in art I have had, and I find it difficult to pick any one artist. I think Jackson Pollock, Kandinsky, van Gogh, and O'Keefe, Anslem Kiefer, and Gerhard Richter would be the most influential to my curent work (not much here is current anymore). I try to take a bit I have learned from each of them through their struggles with color, form, shape, and composition to make my work what I want it to be. I am not trying by any way to copy these artists, but obvious similarities arise. Art is about sharing ideas and learning from one another, and the aforementioned artists have shaped my views of art as I know it. As far as a style goes, "...labels are for bottles of wine..." a famous artist once said, I just call myself a painter.

In addition, I am asked why don't I paint realistically? To be quite honest I find little satisfaction as an artist in realism. I am totally capable of doing it, and have done it several times, however it has never attracted me as an artist. That is not to say I don't like realistic images, I just prefer to create a work more lending to the imagination. I want the viewer to have some say in what it is or what they think it means. I find that realism is very restricting in terms of that, it either looks like it or it doesn't. In abstraction it can be anything, it can be a bird to one and a house to another! I don't want to waste the abilty to invoke thought, and have found as an artist I am more content with abstraction versus realism. I hope that makes sense.

These works are very early in terms of working towards my own style and vision. Many, if not all, I would consdier almost studies for what I am doing now. I think I have progressed quite a bit since but I put it all up...who knows what someone will like. Some of these have fallen prey to the revision bug I had, and have since been painted over. I will update the newer versions under works in progress at my first chance. More than anything they helped me begin a vision of abstract/non-objective/formalist works that I continue to explore to this day.

Several of these works are direct extensions of the music I listen to, and you will find many references to that in the titles. Turn It up and start painting. What comes to mind at that moment is what I paint. I do come in with some ideas in terms of techniques I want to use, even colors and composition sometimes, but in the end the music dictates what I do.

Recently I have been doing works inspired by my flower garden, so you'll start to see some different stuff than the older abstractions.

Enjoy ---Michael

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