Michael Gienger

Artist Statement

The themes in my work are drawn from a range of interests including history, architecture, music, literature, connections between micro- and macrocosm, the polarization of nature and the cultural environment, mysticism, the reintegration of word and image, and the horror-miracle of the contemporary technological world.  Reconnection to cultural systems broken down by the radical visual experiments of modernism is also an important aspect of his imagery.  The work juxtaposes the marginalized forms of traditional culture and expression to the forms of contemporary mass media culture.

I work in a variety of media with a focus on drawing and printmaking.  In recent years the great flexibility of polymer plate etching (gravure) has provided a new technical focus.  In addition to providing maximum flexibility in working methods, gravures allow for a full range of visual vocabulary from solid blacks, line drawings, and washes, to fully articulated tonal drawings that can easily be unified as a visual whole during the initial drawing process.  The technological advantages of this process have proved to be the perfect solution to a number of practical problems, including the need to travel with work and fragmented working time.  The technique also offers technical parallels to my interest in building bridges between an older, traditional, visual and thematic language and a living, evolving, contemporary body of work.

Biography

Place of Birth: Fort Meade, Maryland

Date of Birth: 1954

Education: 

1977:  Bachelor of Arts; University of New Mexico

1984:  Sommerakademie fur Bildende Kunst, Austria

1985-1986: Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria

1986-1992: Master of Arts; University of New Mexico

1992: Master of Arts in German Studies; University of New Mexico, 1992

Awards and Grants:

2003:  Silver Medal for Graphics, Centro Artisti Salernitani, Salerno, Italy

2002:  German Summer School, Stipend for gallery introductions in Berlin through Literarisches Colloquim.

Artist in Residence-University of New Mexico       

Major collections: 

El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX

Museo Nacional de la Estampa, Mexico City

Albuquerque Museum

UNM Law School, Albuquerque, NM

UNM Hospital, Albuquerque, NM

Loyola College, Baltimore, MD

University of Texas at Austin

State University of New York at Oneonta

Hematology Oncology Clinic, Albuquerque, NM

University of North Carolina at Fayetteville

Western University, Silver City, NM

Gallery Representation:  Atelier Paolo Lanni - Italy

Atelier Alexander Sutulov - Chile

KuNSTKeLLeR – California

New Grounds Print Workshop and Gallery – New Mexico

Major exhibitions: 

2005: Unseen World, solo show, New Grounds Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

           Emerging Artist ‘05, Scottsdale, Arizona

2003: Print Biennale - Lorient, France

           ART Santa Fe, Sweeney Convention Center

1999: Open and Closed Systems; South Broadway Cultural Center - Albuquerque, NM

1998: Himmel und Erde - ARC Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

1998: Matrix, ARC Gallery,  Albuquerque, NM

           World; Gallery of the Azienda Autonoma SoggioronoeTurismo; Italy

1996: Group exhibition of Lithographs, Museo Jose Luis Cuevas; Mexico City

1994: Figuarse Venezia; Cafe Zurich, Albuquerque, NM

1992: UNM Invitational Print Show; University of the Americas; Mexico

1992: University of Texas, Goetheinstitute;Texas,

1992: Exploratory Arts Academy; Texas

1990: Printmaking in New Mexico; Branigan Cultural Center; Los Cruces, NM

Publications:

2007: Cover design for Latin America in World History, by Dr. Charles Truxillo, published by Jain Press

2003: Cover design for ‘DIMENSION2’ Volume 6.

2001: Book illustrations for The Sword and the Cross by Dr. Charles Truxillo, published by Greenwood Press