Visual Artist MICHAEL SPROUSE profile picture

Visual Artist MICHAEL SPROUSE

The Official MySpace Page for Nationally Acclaimed Artist Michael Sprouse

About Me

FROM THE PROFILE PAGE OF WWW.SPROUSEART.COM
Though artist Michael Sprouse has been a professional artist for over 20 years, he began his foray onto the national art scene after becoming co-owner and curator of the acclaimed eklektikos gallery of art in Washington, DC in 1993. Over the next 10 years as curator of eklektikos gallery, he organized hundreds of exhibits incorporating thousands of artworks from countless artists from across the nation and the globe. He also served as curator for off-site exhibitions for several embassies and various art organizations in the DC Metro area.
In 1999, Sprouse turned away from the abstracted style of work that he had been known for locally and produced an entirely new body of work consisting of haunting and touching contemporary narrative portraits which he modeled after the empyrean facial expressions found in the subjects of vintage portrait photography. This new work took the DC art scene by storm and lead to a full page glowing review in the Washington Post Arts section.
"The Oath Taker" , 48" x 48", private collection
"Damigella"
, 36" x 36", available
"Divinità Lunare", 36" x 36", available
Since closing eklektios gallery in 2002, Sprouse has worked full-time creating his specialized work which can now be found in private and public collections across the United States, Europe, Canada, and South America. These neo-romantacisim examples of some of Sprouse's work have been called "evocatively beautiful" and "mesmerizing" by art critics and collectors alike in such publications as The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, Art and Antiques, and more.
Some collector’s of Sprouse’s work include Best Selling author David Lozelle Martin, Daniel H. Schulman - President of Priceline.com, Academy Award winning director Quentin Tarrantino, and César Gaviria Trujillo - former President of Colombia and Secretary General of the Organization of American Sates.
Original works by artist Michael Sprouse can be found in private and corporate art collections across the United States, Europe, Canada as well as South and Central America.
Besides being represented by fine art galleries in Washington DC, Baltimore, Atlanta, Nashville and more, large scale high quality archival giclee prints on canvas of Sprouse's work can now also be located in galleries and high-end designer showrooms across the country thanks to the Fine Art Publishing company of Ariel Of France.
SOME OF MICHAEL SPROUSE'S MORE WELL KNOWN WORKS
Create Your Own!
Original works by artist Michael Sprouse can be found in private and corporate art collections across the United States, Europe, Canada, as well as both South and Central America.
Thanks to the Fine Art Publishing company of Ariel Of France, large scale high quality archival giclee prints on canvas of Sprouse's work can also be located in galleries and high-end designer showrooms across the country too numerous to mention.
Listed in the slide show below are both the "brick and mortar" galleries and their cyberspace counterparts. These are just some of the many fine art spaces that have access to Michael Sprouse's original works and high quality giclee on canvas prints.
If you happen to find yourself in front of a Sprouse original or print, let him know by emailing him at [email protected]

My Interests

Fine Art, Vintage Photography, Spiritualism, Applied Taoistic Theory, Early Jazz, Classic Film, Film Noir, Tarot, Old Cemeteries, Gourmet Foods, Early Deco Art Pottery

I'd like to meet:

Chet Baker, John Lennon, Amedeo Modigliani, Robert Capa, Jack Kerouac, Chuck Close, Ma Rainey, Edward Hopper, Laozi, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Marilyn Monroe, Jesus Christ, Zoraster, Sophia Loren, Jackson Pollok, Patsy Cline, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Shirley McClaine

Music:

I have no idea where to begin - though as each year passes I find myself drifting closer to the Great American Songbook and the legends that performed them, i.e., Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Mel Torme, Judy Garland, Chet Baker. I also enjoy the contemporary vocalists in the same genre: Madeleine Peyroux, Michael Buble, Stacy Kent

Movies:

ARTIST STATEMENT OF MICHAEL SPROUSE
As an artist, I find that the most memorable art, regardless of its style, all share one common characteristic - it’s ability to successfully tell a story.
Since the birth of communication, humanity has been connected to the “story”. We are lulled to sleep by them as children, enthralled by them on the stage and screen as adults, and are compelled to share our own with the young as we drift into senior-hood.
I have always been fascinated by the imagery of early silent film and vintage photography and the "stories" they portrayed. It is the same focus on silent communication, delivered only by expression, that motivates my work today.
I use in-depth expression in my work to relate interpersonal stories of lost love, hope, fear, desire, dedication, wistful remembrances and more. The faces I paint are symbolically reminiscent of vague and vintage dream landscapes which focus on the metaphoric mood and flow of each person’s individual story.

Most Recent Work
"Due Sorelle"
36" x 36"
acrylic on canvas
"Moonlight and Fog"
36" x 48"
acrylic on canvas
"Eyewitness"
36" x 48"
acrylic on canvas
This work is currently available.
For purchase info and to view
this work and more at in greater detail visit
www.sprouseart.com
and select the "gallery" link.

Television:

See this little button?

What's the first word that pops into your head when you see it?
I wear mine everyday. Why? Because war sucks.

As an artist, I believe in creating beauty - not destroying it, and life is beautiful. The PEACE symbol is incredibly powerful. Most everyone that sees it automatically hears the word PEACE in their head. Instantly. Whether you believe in PEACE or not, your consciousness has uttered the word PEACE into your being.

If you believe in the beauty of peace, then do what I did and visit www.peacebuttons.net and order your own. You can order one for a dollar - cheaper than most cups of coffee anywhere anymore. FYI: I don't work for, nor am I connected to, www.peacebuttons.net in any way. I just believe in peace and as a professional artist, I know the power of visual information.

Books:

"As I Lay Dying" - William Faulkner
"Trout Fishing in America" - Richard Brautigan
"Revenge of the Lawn" - Richard Brautigan
"The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966" - Richard Brautigan
"The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster" - Richard Brautigan
"No Exit" - Jean-Paul Sartre
"Them" - Joyce Carol Oates
"Wonderland" - Joyce Carol Oates
"What I Lived For" - Joyce Carol Oates
"Zombie" - Joyce Carol Oates
"We Were The Mulvaneys" - Joyce Carol Oates
"Blonde" - Joyce Carol Oates
"On The Road" - Jack Kerouac
"The Stranger" - Albert Camus
"The Plague" - Albert Camus

Heroes:



Favorite Visual Artists
This list is in no particular order and is far from complete...

Amedeo Modigliani
Robert Capa
Chuck Close
Edward Hopper
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Jackson Pollock
Diane Arbus
John Singer Sargent
Richard Diebenkorn
Kate Kollwitz
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein
Pierre Bonnard

My Blog

The Official Blog Of Professional Artist Michael Sprouse

The Official Blog Of Professional Artist Michael Sprouse is maintained on blogger.com. Feel free to visit by clicking on this banner...
Posted by Visual Artist MICHAEL SPROUSE on Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:45:00 PST