About
Michael received his BS from Buffalo State College and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Michael's artwork has been exhibited since 1980 at venues such as: The Burchfield Penney Art Center, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, The New York State Museum, Albany, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, Rutgers University and The Fashion Institute Of Technology. Michael's work is included in the permanent collection of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center and numerous private collections.
Represented by:
Nina Freudenheim Gallery
Hotel Lenox, 140 North Street
Buffalo N.Y. 14201
716-882-5777
Niagara Hall, September, 2011
Currently, the two predominant currents in my painting are realist landscapes and cloudscape abstractions.
(Additional exploratory series are represented on this website.)
Realist Paintings:
My studio is at Niagara Hall in the historic Prospect Hill Neighborhood of Buffalo, New York. The studio overlooks our water boundary with Canada. The juxtaposition of an intensely urban environment with the nexus of Lake Erie and the Niagara River provides a daily reminder of our altered landscape. These paintings are influenced by such contrasts, not unlike the Hudson River Painters, who valued the beautiful and awesome aspects of nature in a landscape that was no longer pristine. This work stems from that American landscape tradition focusing on the various manifestations of the sublime. They are intended to be celebrations of our atmospheric, meteorological and geographical attributes which still gives rise to unexpected wonders.
The working title for this series is "Peaceable Kingdom".
Cloudscape Abstractions:
(“BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE LAKE”)
While this series derives from the same inciting motivations as the realist paintings: The cloudscape/abstraction paintings represent the atmospheric poetry of pollution and weather made visible along Buffalo's waterfront. These cloudscape/abstractions depict fleeting effects that unravel into improvised descriptions of nature's underlying forces. This paradoxical combination of the objective (observation/realism) vs. the subjective (improvisation/abstraction) are intended as meditations on transience and the infinite in nature.
Resume:
Education:
1989 Master of Fine Arts / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
1980 Bachelor of Science in Design / Buffalo State College
Exhibitions:
2016 "Sequel", Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York
2014 "Summer Show", Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York
2013 "Continuum 2013", The Peck School Of Art, University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
2013 "Echo Art Fair 2013", Buffalo & Erie County Public Libraries, Buffalo, New York
2012 "Paintings", Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York
2012 "Artists Among Us", Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York
2011 “Buffalo On The Bowery”, Charles Bank Gallery, New York, New York
2008 ”Gateway: Selections from the Collection”, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York
2007 “Small Works”, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York
2007 ”New Work”, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York (Solo)
2005 “Outlook”, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York
2004 “New Work”, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York (Solo)
2003 “World Of Tomorrow Today”, Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York
2001 "Carnegie Members Exhibition", Carnegie Art Center, North Tonawanda, New York
2001 “Convergence 2001: On Canvas”, Carnegie Art Center, North Tonawanda, New York
1999 “Emerging Artists in Western New York”, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York
1999 “Icons and Relics”, Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York
1998 “New York State Biennial”, New York State Museum, Albany, New York
1997 “In Western New York 1997”, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1997 “Rochester Finger Lakes Exhibition”, Memorial Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1996 “46th Western New York Exhibition”, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1991 Art Dialogue Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1990 317 Market Gallery, Rockford, Illinois
1989 Fine Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1985-86 Artmart, Buffalo, New York
1985 “Increments”, Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York
1984 “Selected Painters”, Bethune Gallery, State University of New York at Buffalo
1983 “CAPS” Traveling Graphic Exhibition, Creative Artists Public Service Program
Kirkland Art Center on the Park, Clinton, New York
Community College of the Finger Lakes, Canandaigua, New York
Marist College Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York
Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, New York
1983 “The Fallout Show”, Peopleart, Buffalo, New York
1982 “39th Annual Western New York Exhibition”, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Bflo, NY
1982 “The New Traditionalist Show”, Upton Gallery, Buffalo State College
1981 “1981 National Works on Paper Show”, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ
1981 “Summerspace”, HALLWALLS, Buffalo, New York (Solo)
Selected Grants and Awards:
2001 Special Mention Award, Carnegie Art Center, North Tonawanda, New York
1997 Rochester Art Club Award for Excellence in Painting, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York
1990 County Initiative Program Creative Artist Fellowship (Printmaking), Arts Council in Buffalo and Erie County
1982 CAPS Artists Fellowship in Graphics (Drawing), New York State Creative Artists Public Service Program
1982 Elizabeth B. Reeb Memorial Award for Drawing, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York