SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
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The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Michael
Gordon
USA
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“I aim to recreate every minute detail of a subject with high fidelity quality that ultimately yields a product like that of a photograph.”
As a child, Mike immersed himself in art. He loved drawing things as realistic as possible. He would often be found by himself by the fireplace doodling away the hours, ripping up paper with work he was unsatisfied with and beginning the process once more. He was maniacal in every sense of the word.
Expressive hyperrealism portrait that took around 200 hours to complete. Each pore, cuticle, and eyelash recreated with meticulous detail
His parents would often look over his shoulder and remark to one another how awful his drawings were, but they were incredibly supportive. When Mike was around the age of 8 or 9, his mother said one day, “we looked over his shoulder while he was in the middle of drawing and started to realize that these were getting quite good.”
This is a portrait of a woman done in marbling technique. I was struck by her vibrant smile. A look can convey so many things and to me, this screamed happiness and bliss.
Mike took the occasional arts and crafts summer camp but for the most part, he is entirely self-taught and fell in love with the works of people like Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth. He loves working in grayscale with a range of graphite and charcoal.
“I have always enjoyed drawing people and faces.”
Hyperrealism became a true passion for Mike. He started following the unique journey of hyperrealism artist CJ Hendry and after visiting her first exhibit in 2016 and seeing the level she had taken hyperrealism to; he was inspired to fine-tune his craft. He has also pulled inspiration from Kelvin Okafor and Emanuele Dascanio.
“While I typically work with graphite and charcoal, I’ve recently has started to explore the world of color with painting.”
He was struck by the whimsical and vibrant nature of the traditional Japanese marbling technique, or “Suminagashi.” His paintings are a unique twist on this technique. Literally, the word means “ink floating.” Swirling patterns, like those found in natural marble stone, can be created by dropping ink or paint on the surface of water and then placing paper on top to lift the ink. It's believed to have originated in the 12th century.
This is a portrait of NBA legend, Kobe Bryant, done in marbling technique. I've been a long-time fan of Kobe. His passion, love for the game and work ethic is always something I admired. He truly was a master of his craft and much can be learned from that kind of dedication and drive.
“Hyperrealism drawing is an incredibly meditative experience for me as several hours can go by in the blink of an eye in that state of effortless flow.”
Expressive portrait done in marbling technique
The difference here is that Mike is using the technique to create striking form and figure on canvas instead of water. With a keen eye for color, form, and composition, Mike's goal is to create works of art that are both visually stunning and emotionally resonant.
Marbled portrait done of 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama
Within each square inch on the canvas is entropy in action. Each block of marbling captures a unique moment in time, frozen forever in vivid, swirling hues that dance and dazzle the eye of the viewer. This process is in stark contrast to Mike's graphite and charcoal drawings in that they must be done in short order.
cropped detail of Marbled Obama
It is truly a race against the clock and time is not his friend! From the time he begins to lay the paint down onto the canvas, Mike has roughly three hours to complete the pieces or else the paint becomes tacky and unworkable.
Marbled duality is a portrait done in marbling technique with the red and blue hues used specifically for high contrast
“Hyperrealism allows me to give the viewer a glimpse of my subjective reality--the way I see things--through my eyes.”
Marbled Joy is done in the acrylic marbling technique capturing the emotion of joy and happiness expressed in a portrait
For Mike, marbling has been a fun endeavor into the world of color and he gets a kick out of seeing what can be achieved in just a few hours. Each attempt yields something completely different as well in terms of the overall pattern.
Marbled Mary is an up-close portrait done of Michelangelo's La Pieta with a marbling technique twist
In contrast with hyperrealism drawings, he can spend anywhere between 80-250+hours on each work. They require an enormous amount of patience and time as one piece can take around 2.5-3 months to finish. While time consuming, for Mike art is therapy. It allows an otherwise chatty internal dialogue to go completely still.
This piece is a unique take on the famous Salvador Dali photograph done in marbling technique