Works on Paper

Though his sculpture, painting and printmaking parallel drawing activities in concept, process and sometimes image, working on paper employing traditional materials remains a favorite means of exploration. For him drawing is always primary not preliminary.

Process Drawings In the mid 1980's his procedure for making sculpture was so similar to the act of drawing that virtually no graphite on paper drawings were made. Emery cloth, which was used to sand the wooden dowels before becoming part of the skeletal structure, became the repository for materials like glue and paint as well as the activities used in construction, recording each sculpture's creation. With these “process drawings” a new avenue of mark making and documentation arose. The recent series of process drawings, DEBRIS FIELD, is an accumulation of residue from the various stages in the development of the RHAPSODY wall and floor pieces.

RHAPSODY Rhapsody is a series of ink drawings that explores the anatomy of drawing through its basic element, the mark. Identical in process to the Notation paintings, Rhapsody uses repetition to develop its graphic vocabulary. Employing an incremental marking construction executed at varying time intervals or episodes results in a quilt of emerging patterns. This surface undulates from swaying rhythms teeming with activity reminiscent of the natural world.

Drawings / graphite These drawings employ only the basic tools of drawing, pencil and paper. They were developed intuitively and constructed one mark at a time, a process which parallels his dimensional drawings, SQUIGGLE, SCRIBBLE and GRID.

Drawings / mixed media During the mid to late 90's, a number of series were created using graphite and shellac. Often gesso was added as a way to bring the drawing back to white. In drawings like B/W, LANDSCAPE, NARRATIVE, PULL and QUAD episodes of drawing activity are captured between translucent layers of shellac allowing the viewer to experience the drawing as it developed.

Print portfolio His first edition emerges from the format of his diptych monotypes, a marking plate opposite a debossed debris plate. The change in this edition of eight occurs only with the marking plate. The first two in the edition, SQUIGGLE and WHITE SCRIBBLE, has the drawn plate etched by his hand. In the next three prints, SCRIBBLE, SQUIGGLElinear and SQUIGGLEshelf, the etched plate is replaced by a solar plate detail of one of his installed works, either SQUIGGLE or SCRIBBLE, which functions as a surrogate for his hand. The surrogate drawing plate is substituted in the succeeding three prints, SQUIGGLED, RESQUIGGLED and SCRIBBLED, by a solar plate detail that he has digitally drawn on and erased thus reinserting his hand into the marking process and completing a cycle of hand to surrogate to hand. As with all of the prints in this edition, the debossed debris plate remains the only constant.

MonoPrints During the summer of 2006, Michael began developing a series of monoprints in much the same way he works in his other disciplines, by pursuing an idea through time. In these initial monoprints like NOCTURNE and FAUX, etched plates attempt to capture the multiple marking episodes reminiscent of his paintings and installed works. By 2007, SQUIGGLE and SCRIBBLE prints were capturing not only his layers of gestures but also elements of his sculptural process. These monoprints are made with two plates. One is etched, which is similar to NOCTURNE and FAUX. The other plate is a collection of debris, such as glue, graphite paper mixture or rope ends, reflecting the various stages used in the creation of the SQUIGGLE and SCRIBBLE installed works. This combination of mark and history gives these monotypes a conceptual and physical relationship to the installed works of the same name.

BROCADE BROCADE is a series of recent monotypes experimenting with transparent color inks and multiple plates. Each of the four plates employs a different marking system from direct marking to surrogate, which utilizes digitally manipulated transfers. In some prints, debossing within and slightly beyond the printed area explores the physical topography suggested by the layered pattern. The process used in the creation of the MOTIF paintings influenced his initial foray into color printing.