Michael Coleman
mikonty@msn.com https://www.facebook.com/share/15nvMyTS2f/?mibextid=wwXIfr https://www.instagram.com/mike_coleman_fine_art/
Artist Statement
There are several ideas that have developed over time and are now influencing some of my artwork. One is my series trying to combine realism with abstraction by looking at realistic subject matter, like landscape, figure and still life through abstract windows. I like to incorporate contrast, variety and interest in the designs by using different concepts of color theory, and painting techniques while exploring the contrast between geometric shapes and organic shapes. These concepts and some of my elaborate backgrounds, which sometimes become an abstract organic element in their own right, are used to help portray the beauty of our physical world and proof of the universal creative force we call God. I’m also interested in exploring Surrealism and Visionary Art as an expression of this creative force. I look for beauty and spiritual truth in all things around us and my main focus is trying to portray physical and spiritual Light.
Artist Biography
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Michael Coleman has studied and created art his entire life. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Louisiana Tech University in 1985 and worked for many years as an illustrator and graphic designer while working nights and weekends to develop a personal style of painting. Michael moved to New Mexico in the mid 90s to expand his artistic options and started working for a local art company, Opp Art Inc., in Albuquerque. He worked on many projects creating murals, 3-dimensional art, graphics, interior & exterior faux finishes, signage, and carpentry for commercial clients nationwide in the restaurant and casino industries, including the Paris Casino in Las Vegas, Hollywood Casinos in Chicago, Shreveport and Memphis and an interesting 2-year project for the Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer near Ribera, New Mexico.
Michael Coleman began his art education career teaching basic drawing, computer graphics and commercial illustration part-time for a private commercial art college in the late 90s. In 2002 he started teaching high school Fine Art, fundamentals of art, drawing, painting, ceramics, pottery, jewelry, sculpture, AP portfolio and fine art matting and framing at Bernalillo High School, in Bernalillo, New Mexico. In 2005 he received a Masters of Art in Education degree from the College of Santa Fe. He also taught art education and art history as an Associate Instructor at the University of Phoenix, and other area Albuquerque community colleges. In 2012 he started teaching high school Fine Art for the Dulce Independent School District and living on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in northern New Mexico. Michael moved his family back to the Kansas City area in 2016 and finished his Art education career at a charter high school, the Guadalupe Centers Charter High School (formerly Alta Vista Charter High School), specializing in drawing, painting and murals. Michael continues working and expanding his painting and drawing skills and artistic growth, in his home studio in Belton, Missouri, while participating in international and local art shows. He is a juried member of the Canadian and the American branches of the Society for Art of Imagination and has participated in International Visionary Art Exhibitions. Montreal, Canada with the Canadian Society for Art of Imagination at the “Écomusée du Fier Monde”, Oct 2015. The “Visionary Alchemy Exhibition”, New York City, 2017, An exhibition of imaginative Art, presented by the Society for Art of Imagination, at One Art Space, 23 Warren Street, New York City. The “Visionary Art Award Exhibition”, The Moscow House of Artist, Moscow, Russia, March - April, 2018, he received 3rd Place Painting in the Fantastic Realism Category for the original oil painting “The Anointing”. The “Visionary Art Trip Exhibition”, at The Moscow House of Artist, Moscow, Russia, March 2019, an International Traveling Exhibition of Visionary Art. He now is a juried member of Images Art Gallery in Overland Park, Kansas.
‘The Anointing’, Oil on canvas, 30” x 30”
‘In the Golden Light’, Oil on canvas, 18” x 24”
‘Truth Above the Storm’, Oil on canvas, 24” x 36”
‘Golden Angel’, Oil on canvas, 36” x 36”
‘Standing Before the Storm’, Oil on canvas, 25” x 21”
‘Angel of Avalon’, Oil on canvas, 24” x 36”