About Michael

Artist Bio

 I’ve always been torn between two worlds. As a kid my parents, especially my mom, encouraged my obsession with music, even if that meant enduring the relentless sound of my drums in the basement of our Pennsylvania farmhouse. But I had another passion: Art.

When I was twelve, I painted a mural of my favorite album cover, Mountain Climbing by Mountain, on the entire wall of my bedroom.

Still, at first, music was my calling. After high school, I traveled all over the U.S. playing drums with 60’s rock and roll revival band Danny & the Juniors. The venues we played ran the gamut: Everywhere from Holiday Inns to Madison Square Garden.

After years of non-stop touring I was ready for my next chapter. I decided to give NYC try. It was the right choice. Before long I was a studio musician, recording with artists such as Marshall Crenshaw and The Rockcats and going on tour with the Clash, David Bowie and The Go Go’s all over north America and Europe.

The life of a musician NYC in the late 80s was an eye-opening, if not dangerous experience – I lived in the heart of the then notorious Hell's Kitchen (one had to be very careful walking home at night) – but it was also the first time I began to truly nurture my love of art. 

My nighttime gigs at the Peppermint Lounge or Danceteria, afforded me the opportunity to explore all of NYC world-class museums during the day. I found myself drawn to artists like Giorgio de Chirico, Gustav Klimt, Rene Magritte, and J. M. W. Turner and began dreaming of becoming a painter. Utilizing the same method I used to learn the drums – playing along to records of my favorite drum beats – I set up a small studio in my already cramped apartment and began painstakingly attempting to do something close to what these masters did. During that period of my life the tug of my paint brushes almost overpowered my drumsticks. At least for the time being, music won.

By the mid 90’s the pace and energy of NYC was beginning to wear me down. It was time to make another move. My dad gave me a cheap Toyota truck, I put my meager belongings in the back and began driving west. As my New York experience had broadened my world this cross country trip gave me yet another perspective. I camped along the way, woke up in total quiet in National Monuments and Parks, spending days on end without seeing another person. I also met the fiercely individualistic, quirky people (in Nevada), who made some of the more desolate places their home. All the while I took thousands of photographs, which I would someday use as inspiration for my paintings.

Eventually I choose San Francisco as my next base and began working as a photo-retoucher and Illustrator for Apple. I still painted whenever I got the chance. I’d wake up at 5am to get a couple of hours in my studio before heading off to work.

Through my painting I’d like to demonstrate the ever changing landscapes of the world we live in. In the blink of an eye they can go from breathtakingly beautiful, to painfully lonely, to hilariously funny. It just matters which road you take.  

 Michael, a guy who paints.