My project is finished, my case studies are basically done, I've handled my self-reflections. Looks like it's the end of the course.. apart from the exam. Ah the exam!

I did my project presentation last week, and even though it wasn't top notch, I'm still happy with it. I put a lot of time into learning a new language and taking my output to render posters. Tomorrow will be the rest of the presentations, and I'm keen on seeing what everyone else has done!

Should be exciting. Last lesson will be fun. Tony said he'll bring his camera [;

"Untitled" - 2003

Biography

Michael Salerno's interest in art can be traced back to 1979, where he inititially made hundreds of ballpoint pen drawings. His recent works include abstract and 'automatic meanderings'. He is able to grab an idea as soon as it becomes present, and recognizes its impact on the painting. After his work is set on a roll, he modifies his artwork in terms of colour and effect.

Since the last 25 years Michael has been able to establish himself as a Los Angeles artist with complex abstracts made up of countless colorfulmarks and swirls of paint.

His inspirations for his artwork vary greatly, though his recent body of work titled 'To Life' celebrates his heritage. He looks at life as a positive mischevious spirit instead of a complicated battle of ups and downs in daily life. In some of his works he also takes the connection between pre-War European Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.

Michael's exhibitions range from the mid 90's to his later works present in Graduate schools and exhibitions around America. He also sells his work from his personal website.



Artists Statement

"The textures and colors of my pieces present countless layers of tiny, infinite universes in which viewers can get lost. Both abstract and sometimes hauntingly real, the pieces welcome philosophical thought as well as walking meditation and a chance to merely space out. Whatever is read between the lines is for the beholder to discover -- a full spectrum of what can be imagined."

Work

"The resultant effect of an infinity of marks and colors, simultaneouslyrandom and painstakingly precise, evokes space--both the macro and micro in terms of subatomic or astronomical. In the artists words."

"Full Spectrum 618" - 2006
Archival Pigment on canvas then modified digital print, 36” x 60”

“Untitled” - 2002
Oil on canvas with idea formulated on computer, 18 x 20”

“Untitled” - 2003

Art Process / Computing Process

Michael tends to favour a monochromatic effect or so he did in is earlier works, though he achieves this by selecting various mixtures and combinations of colours that "may work their way or clash towards the dominant hue".

For one of series, he used the primary greens, reds, or blues fused with other colours that broke the pattern. His choices in colours have been able to influence a curious attraction for the eye. Usually the aim would then be to bring harmony admidst the dominate hues, texture effect and overall composition which seems to clash.

Layering is a formal constant in his work, as you can see from the paintings. However the opacity of the colour is of little issue since the texure of the work is built up as a series of lines on top of each other. It is common for most artists to use lines to describe and express their work, yet not used together. Accumulation is precisely what Michael's work is all about.

LACDA held his first exhibition in February 2006 holding his fascinating work that brought him into the digital realm. He reinterprets his physical paintings by using a self designed recipe of software edits that target and play around with factors such as texture, form, shape and colour. The outcome is that of something with an entirely new direction of technology.

Analysis / Comparison

"Michael Salerno strives for the purity of the simple mark, the scratch, the unadulterated scribble, out of what I perceive to be a desire for an authentic experience of markmaking free of any concern other that its own self-exploration. Of course, Salerno has astutely modified the more primal concerns to at least engage the viewer with a blunt presence almost calm, and most importantly permanent.The Lines, still really marks, are laid down by this artist as if they had wrought their own existence in a quest to be unlike the ink of other, wordier pens."
- Mat Gleason, Editor, Coagula Art Journal

"The iconographic range of Salerno's drawings is surprisingly vast. Perhaps this is because the artist's quest is much like a time-traveler. In tapping the unconscious during the early stages of the creative process, Salerno's aim is to open up many and varied pathways into the universe-at-large. In order to do this, he has had to repudiate the stylistic limitations that governed a good deal of Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist automatism. Salerno embraces a diverse iconographic lexicon in which he assigns equal value to abstract and figurative elements."
- David S. Rubin, Curator of Visual Arts, New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center

"Mr. Salerno has been producing mature and important painting for a considerable period of time. It is clear that his work has been meeting with accelerating critical support and acclaim over the past few years. I believe that this rising interest is the result of a growing rocognition that his work participates importantly in the dialogue surrounding contemporary painting and that it represents a significant achievement. It is often the case that the times must be exactly right for the special contribution of an artist to be recognized. Mr. Salerno's work involves a unique relationship between automatic gesture and the visual field. Work in this area is beginning to emerge in the art world at this time, an area which Mr. Salerno has pioneered and in which he is fully developed."
- Roland Reiss, artist & educator

References

Michael Salerno's Personal Website

Los Angeles Center for Digital Art: Artist Page

Critic Bill Lasarow on Michael Salerno

I was doing research for my blog this week, about RAP, and found a page at engadget dot com which had a shot paragraph text to it but gave opinion on the artwork. I continue to search and find three more sites with the EXACT same text I read earlier, such as at collect gadgets dot com and brisk mag dot com. What is all that about ?

Do the staff / users / members have potato mush for brains that they can't reword any of it and put in a smidge of personal affect ? Ugh. And no, the sites aren't affiliated in anyway. Pea sized minds, that's all I can say.