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Michael Bailey
Location
Flagstaff, AZ
United States
Artist Statement
THE STATEMENT
I am a contemporary realist artist working primarily with drawing media in all of it's various forms. My work also includes paintings i...
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Username: Micarron
Member Since:
March 2009
| Gender: | Male |
| Artist Statement: | THE STATEMENT I am a contemporary realist artist working primarily with drawing media in all of it's various forms. My work also includes paintings in watercolors and oils. I believe drawing is the core of good art & that it is equal to any other process as a major art form. Making marks on paper that transform into form & shape is a magical experience for me and I cannot perceive not drawing. From my use of drawing as a study for painting to it's use as a finished work it captures my complete attention from start to finish. My goal as an artist is to hopefully create a parallel experience with the viewer touching him/her in some existence of memory. I hope my art touches you in such a way. THE ARTIST Coming onto the art scene now in my mid-fifties you could call me a late arriving emerging artist. After working in varied fields over thirty years I had an opportunity open up to take the leap of faith and commit myself full time to my dream of a career in art. Keeping a hand involved in art has been difficult traveling life’s varied avenues: marriage, children, changing jobs, divorce, but I managed to stay abreast of what was happening and took any opportunity to work and grow my art I could. I am fortunate to have had several very talented instructors in many of the courses I attended over the years who fostered my creativity, teaching me not only the basics of composition, design, color, and form, but also an ability to look beyond the edges of traditional thinking in my art. I feel their guidance with every piece I work striving to sometimes find the unconventional view or willing to experiment with technique, medium, or style to incorporate in my work. Living in the Southwest US I have such wonderful inspiration from the landscape and the most incredible light to work with both which have affected much of my work. In my gallery you will actually see two separate portfolios of work reflecting distinctly different subjects and styles. I am a realist at heart, call it contemporary realism if a tag must be applied, yet I am beginning to explore more surreal themes of other dimensional visions and things I call “imachineations”, works of contrived invention aligned with more conventional imagery in unconventional settings. These works will consist for the majority of dry media drawings on paper and for now exploring those themes in graphite and all of it’s tonal possibilities. Indeed the majority of my work, whether real or surreal will be executed on paper working in either watercolor, colored pencil, pastels and chalks, mixed media, even metal point, a wonderfully sensual medium used to magnificent perfection by the Renaissance master’s and now making a resurgence in traditional methods. Welcome to my world, enjoy your stay. |
| Education: | Northern Arizona University - Fine Arts 1970-1972 Arizona State University - Fine Arts 1973-1974 Mesa Community College - Life Drawing Emphasis 1975 |
| Awards & Distinctions: | Purchase award for cover of Dine B'olta brochure 1970 Best of Show Award & First Place Award Four Corners Art Association Show 1971 First Place Award for Watercolor Thunderbird Artist's Show Phoenix Art Museum 1972 |
| Exhibitions: | Four Corners Art Association Fall Show 1971 Thunderbird Artist's Spring Show at the Phoenix Art Museum 1972 Colored Pencil Artist's of America Arizona District Fall Show at the Casa Grande Art Museum 2008 |
| Artistic Influences: | All of the Renaissance master's influenced my love of realism, especially Rembrandt's and Caravaggio's use of light. Painters of modern times who had the greatest influence on me include John Singer Sargeant, Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keefe, and the late Andrew Wyeth. I also have been struck with the genius of photographer Ansel Adams and architect Frank Lloyd Wright, both of who I am in awe of their amazing contribution to art and society as a whole. |
| Artist Tags: | contemporary art, drawing, watercolor, realism, painting, surrealism |