8 Comments

1. 

   Byron King

   January 12, 2009

   Does anyone want to try and give Michael the same type of constructive input we gave Johnathan McDermott last week? That would be really swell of you guys if you are down.

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2. 

   Frank

   January 12, 2009

   I’m noticing that Michael, as many street artists and art students, are caring less about the media itself and more about the image. I see a move away from appreciating the random aspects of paint/drawing media and instead concentrating on the crispness of the image. Jason Wright’s work is a good local example. Smooth surface, well constructed imagery with almost no sign of a human hand moving around the paint. The apparent use of stencils in Michael’s work (even the crowd scenes being stencils themselves) add to that very mechanical approach.. “When Michael says ”I was really fighting w/ the media and decided I was only using paint cuz I wanted to be a “painter”, I think he admits that he couldn’t entirely bend the media to his will and needs a faster way to find a powerful image with less random qualities. It is hard to control paint; it’s kinda like herding cats. I wonder if the move toward a less painterly image is the result of impatience, influence of computers or the clean flatness of comic books and cartoons.

   In art history, I think artist themselves became more important and celebrated by the public when artists developed more separate and personal styles. The tendency to create work that looks more produced than created seems to contradict that.

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3. 

   Frank

   January 12, 2009

   …and to add; I am really liking the crowd scenes. It inspires me with a couple of ideas for my own work.

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4. 

   byron king

   January 13, 2009

   Well, I’m a bit bias as I have “We Are Just Reflections of Our Time” in my very small collection. Michael and I traded pieces after Art Basel. We were in the Openground show at the Fountain Art Fair. I really liked the concept behind that project he showed because it was tied into MySpace. The project is called MikeSpace: http://rippens.com/paintings/mikespace/#

   And what I gather is he pulled images of selected Mike’s. Himself being a Mike it was a sort of portraiture project of Mike’s throughout MySpace. It was a sampling of course but it allowed him to see what other Mike’s were about. In a sort of voyeuristic manner without getting to know them personally. On each portrain he also included the headline from their profile in text from each Mike on their portrait.

   So I don’t only see process in his work but the concepts he’s working with. And to tell you the truth I find his process quit painstaking and meticulous, something I utterly respect. Dripping and sloshing paint to me has been completely over romanticized.

   The piece I have now hanging under my stairs in my home by Mike continues to catch my eye as I still can’t imagine working in this manner. I also enjoy how his work is a project. Each piece belongs to a larger body. So he expresses his ideas through a consistent body of work. Something the majority of artists I know personally aren’t doing. I enjoy seeing that.

   The work also came with a “How To” on taking care of it throughout the years and a statement on the project. All very professional I thought.

   So to me regardless of the fact that he’s using graphic material I find his projects to work on a very conceptual level. He is dealing with very personal and social issues through his projects.

   The one thing I might enjoy seeing is a description of each project on the web site as I know there are many levels to his work now that we’ve discussed his work in person and I don’t see descriptions on http://www.rippens.com. That might help the uninformed viewer to get more from the images he’s producing.

   Thanks for sharing Mike.

   Keep cutting away. I’m looking forward to seeing your “Heaven is a Place” project when it’s completed.

   Reply
5. 

   Frank

   January 13, 2009

   “Dripping and sloshing paint to me has been completely over romanticized.”

   True and my point exactly. 100+ years ago that was cutting edge, even considered vulgar. Now, it is often seen as romantic, which implies anything but vulgar. I think it is a part of the re-evaluation of the painter/artist correlation. In the past a person strove to be painters, and in time, maybe create Art. Now artists, for the most part, consider the craft of painting can be bypassed for a direct line to self expression.

   None of this is a judgment for or against either idea. It is an observation of the sweeping movement that take place in visual art… a movement that Michael’s work unintentionally comments on.

   In some ways, the meticulous method Michael and stencil artistes are using is a turning the clock back to a Renaissance like approach to painting. The stencil look is a kind of new chiaroscuro. Very smooth, perfect, and mathematical indeed. It is quite different from the Abstract Expressionist movement, which is a high point of painterly paintings (embracing that chaotic element).

   The pendulum is swinging back and I’m curious why.

   Check out Logan Hicks and Kngee for examples of that meticulous approach taken to an extreme.

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6. 

   Michael

   January 15, 2009

   Hi Globatron,

   I’ve been enjoying this discussion on my work and process. I just wanted to address Byron’s rquest for more info about each project on my website.

   It may be easily missed, but on each series page of my site (rippens.com) the final thumbnail in each group of images is a grey box that says “info” in white. If you click on this “info” thumbnail you will see a box w/ a brief description of the ideas behind or inspiration for that particular body of work. Some descriptions are longer than others, but they’ll at least answer a few questions about what I was trying to do or what that group of work is all about.

   Thanks for your interest in the work and for all your comments!

   Reply
7. 

   byron king

   January 15, 2009

   Hi Michael, I stand corrected. I can’t believe I missed the info box. It’s very obvious actually now that you pointed it out. Appreciate you doing the interview. Keep me posted on future projects if you have the time.

   Reply
8. 

   Akbar Lightning

   January 15, 2009

   these are cool. it would be interesting to see a bit more indulgence in the material. in other words, more abstraction with the material itself, with the imagery a bit less emphasized.

   i find that the images are so central as to become overly focused on the photograph being used. i think the artist has more intensity than this, i feel this by the color choice which is passionate and risky, which i like.

   some of the photos really play into a kind of degraded society theme i see a lot in art fairs, it’s not my thing, i find it kind of condescending in a weird way, i know it’s not intentional, but it’s kind of like reality shows that humiliate strange people.

   for this reason i like the atomic bomb image the best, because it focuses on the material and uses symbolic juxtaposition. again, i think the photographic images are great, but it would be fun to see them more lost in the vinyl.

   there’s my take. i would also have liked some more serious answers to the questions. perhaps it had to do with the chat medium.

   i will definitely keep an eye on this artist.
   akbar

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