Artist Statement

My approach to depicting the landscape can be found in references to humanity and the abstract formulations required to create representational reality within rational compositions. 

I find my intentions as they develop in an observational framework found in the landscape. Analogous comparisons to human forms and relationships are employed to give life and reference to inanimate subjects. Abstraction, beyond the reduced complexity required to focus form, is applied to complex objects and their arrangement to reveal a cohesive and supportive composition.

I believe this process results in a deeper understanding of the imagery by providing greater accessibility to how I realized my vision.

I want the viewer see what I feel when I see.

Artist Biography

Michael received his Bachelor of Fine Art in printmaking and painting at the Memphis College of Art and his Master of Fine Art in printmaking and painting at Yale University School of Art.

Returning the to Nashville in 1996, after 15 years in New York City, the beauty and vastness of the landscape inspired his vision and washed away the cold confinement of the city. Working professionally as an architectural project manager, interior designer, and college professor have provided a unique mixture of experiences that influence his work as a fine art painter.

Michael is a member of the Chestnut Group Plein Air Painters, The Portrait Society of America, American Impressionist Society and the Nashville Figure Drawing Group. His work in held by private and public collections in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and  Nashville.