Michael's Art & Web Design

My Art Background

After assembling a strong fine arts portfolio and getting help with a recommendation from my mom’s well-known artist friend Raymond Saunders, I got accepted to the ‘Harvard of Art schools’ – The Art Institute of Chicago. The prestigious SAIC art school provided an amazing foundation, teachers and connections for my future. In addition, I traveled around Europe after high school. Finally, there was the daily city experience I had living in four incredible ones: which included Chicago, LA, San Francisco and New York.

From all those experiences, I transitioned from traditional painting techniques to movements like Assemblage, Mixed Media and Surrealism. I experimented a lot with a variety of collage media, which mostly included found objects often found in the streets and assembled in unconventional ways.

Some influences include Edward Kienholtz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Robert Rauschenberg mixed with a bit of surrealism like Salvador Dali. My work has often been described as “Urban Tribalism,” due to the use of metals and synthetic materials mixed with natural elements like stone and wood, its subjects evoking themes of birth, death, intimacy, chaos and love.

The individual defines the art

Art is open to the viewer’s interpretation. My work is a manifestation of everyday experiences and observations crafted as a collection of found objects. Indeed, my art’s true expression does not adhere to any obvious meaning. Objects that have been discarded and often deemed insignificant to one person become significant to me in a new and unique way.