www.michaelalanart.com

Life is short. Here today, gone tomorrow. Change and Death are definite. I remind myself of these realities before I start working everyday. Understanding and accepting these truths about life help me arrive to a purer form. My work is about life, death, struggle, and the release of awkward emotion.I was born and raised in New York City. A child of the 80s, roaming the streets, influenced by chaos. Around 1989 I picked a tag and followed the graffiti lifestyle through for 15 years. This obsessive art form led me to pursue an education in fine art and art history. Studying anatomy during the day and climbing buildings at night, I led a double life. There was no connection, leaving me unsatisfied and searching for a way to reconcile the two. Uninterested in pursuing one genre of art, I started integrating seemingly inconsistent styles creating hybrids.I am interested in crossbreeding, unpredictable outcomes and organized confusion. Just as religion divides and separates man, classifications between high art and low art divide and separate artists. I reject the distinction and explore the space in between where anything is possible. In this unlikely space I am free to explore and interpret human emotion, with the raw energy of outsider art while referencing high art themes and principles. Drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, mixed media, music, video and photography are incorporated but my main interest is in drawing. It is the backbone of my art and the mark that connects and ties the many different styles together.The draw-a-thon is an extension of these ideas and my reaction to art school. We drew the same models in the same poses in the same ways over and over again. The rooms were silent, there was no energy. Working with a group of artists and art models, I re-cast the traditional practice of figure drawing by adding context and energy by incorporating narrative, theatrical and musical components. I am interested in gathering people to make art. The main goal is to create a public space where artists can meet and form a community. The eight hour monthly format is an important aspect. Something special happens around the fourth or fifth hour when you work side by side with one hundred artists. A common energy is created between the artists and models, inhibitions are lifted and more honest work takes place. That common energy is built up monthly as the community builds.Get Your Own! | View Slideshow