I began my artistic career doing pen and ink renderings of historical architecture. I began painting in 1980, first in gouache, then in acrylics. Artists whose work I admire and draw inspiration from include Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler, Richard Estes and Vermeer. I am most interested in depicting what Alan Watts called the mystery of the ordinary; the workaday world we live in without seeing until we are forced to focus upon it, as in a painting.
Nearly all my paintings are based on photographs I have taken, primarily of Southern California scenes, over the years. Though it was never my intention to depict nostalgic scenes, many of the images I have painted have disappeared or been radically altered in the ever-changing landscape that is Southern California. Thus nostalgia is thrust upon the works. But the distinctive light remains, which is what I attempt to capture in my painting. That, and the built environment that we humans inhabit, where nature manifests itself only in weeds and palms emerging from cracks in the hardscape, and the smooth blue sky.
Phyllis Lutjeans, Museum Educator and former curator, has said of my work: “Although Michael Ward may be called a neo-realist painter his work can ultimately be described as abstract realism. The picture image is photographically realistic, but within the context of the painting his compositions are complex and almost abstract. Deciphering the work section by section one sees how a multitiude of individual complete compositions are put together to form the entire work. For me the viewer is confronted by a realistic image that puzzles us and clearly tells the story simultaneously.”
As a painter, I am self-taught.
2009 California Open Exhibition, Long Beach Arts, 2009 -- Sinéad Finnerty-Pyne, Curator
Venice Free Clinic Art Auction, 2009
Urban Ambience, Long Beach Arts, 2009 -- Mike Daniel, Juror
California Dreaming -- Paintings ofthe Golden State, Tirage Art Gallery, 2009
California Visual Artists Group Show, 2nd City Council Art + Performance Space, Long Beach, CA 2009
Orange County Airport Community Focus Space (Solo show) 2008-2009
Holiday Salon, Tirage Art Gallery, 2008
Walkabout (Solo show), Gallery 825, Los Angeles, 2008
Artist Showcase, The LAB, Costa Mesa, CA 2008
Art Kudos International Competition 2007 -- Peter Trippi, Fine Art Connoisseur, curator.
Orange County Fair, 2007
Artists Magazine, 24th Art Competition, Finalist (2x), Landscape -- Patricia Tobacco Forrester, juror
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery Open Salon, 2007
Mesa Art Gallery, 2007
Art + Architecture Art Auction, West Hollywood, CA, 2007
Crackerjack Group Show, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, 2007 -- Jay Belloli, Armory Center for the Arts, curator
Venice Free Clinic Art Auction, Venice, CA, 2007
Sexy Beasts Group Show, Art Murmur Gallery, Los Angeles, 2007
TURF Group Show, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, 2007 -- Gregorio Luke, Museum of Latin American Art, curator
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental Gallery (ongoing)
Made in California, Brea Civic & Cultural Center, Brea, CA, 2007 -- Michelle Urton, LACMA, juror
Centered on the Center, Huntington Beach Art Museum, 2007
Open Show, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, 2006-7 -- Ann Philbin, Hammer Museum of Art, curator
Metroscapes (Group Show), Art Murmur Gallery, Los Angeles, 2006
Centered on the Center, Huntington Beach Art Museum, 2006
Made in California, Brea Civic & Cultural Center, Brea, CA, 2006 -- Michelle Deziel, Norton Simon Museum, juror
Artists Magazine, 22nd Art Competition, Finalist, Still Life -- Jane Jones, judge
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery Open Salon, 2004
Orange County Artist Juried Exhibition, 2004
Orange County Biennial, 2001 -- Patricia Correia, juror
Made in California, City of Brea Art Museum, 1998
Tirage Art Gallery
One West California Boulevard
Pasadena, CA 91105
626.405.1020
Mesa Art
789 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627
949.548.3570
Contact
tmichaelward@att.net
