A native North Carolinian, Michael began expressing his artistic abilities at a young age. He remembers always feeling the magic of being in the ocean or the mountains, and wanting to make his own version of those experiences through art. With a long lineage of artisans, one could suppose his knack for creating is in his blood.Michael is inspired particularly by written word such as poetry, novels, religious history, anthropology, biology, and art history, however he believes everything serves as inspiration and nothing should be ignored. “A question which is always present for me: how does the world fit together from its many parts, and what drives our need to know and create and seek the spiritual?” Authentic expression presenting itself as an inevitable presence is his artistic goal, as well as a well-crafted surface. That, he says, is mandatory! A favorite quote of his is by painter Robert Ryman, which states: ” The one quality I look for and I think is in all good painting, is that it has to look as if no struggle was involved. It has to look as if it was the most natural thing – it just happened and you don’t have to think about how it happened. It has to look very easy even though it wasn’t.”Anne Neilson Fine Art Gallery is proud to represent Michael and several pieces from multiple series of work.