Excavations Non Objective a solo exhibition of paintings – Michael Filan
Artist’s Reception
July 15, 2010
Riverside Lobby
4 - 7 pm
Presented by THE INTERCHURCH CENTER,
Paula M. Mayo: President & Executive Director
Curated by Frank DeGregorie
--- All paintings are for sale.
For sales information please call 212.870.3271.
This exhibition is part of The Interchurch Center
50th Anniversary Celebration 2010
Artist’s Statement
My paintings come from a place that needs direct expression, a place that is not in service of an internal idea. I don’t create a visual product; painting is my way of nursing my soul. It addresses the need for a human-to-human connection that expresses clarity, confusion, beauty and aliveness on a two-dimensional surface. The works are expressive, open and uncompromising. They are bold and assertive seeming to say: “I am here, look at me, I am whole and strong and my intention is clear.”
Within the context of abstraction, I am constantly inventing a new vocabulary that employs gesture, form and notation. I use the intensity of color as a mystical guide that leads me through the process of creating the painting. My painting has become brushless. I create spatial planes on the painting’s surface that offer resting points where the viewer may pause before going further on the journey of exploring the painting. The gestures, drips and splashes that unite my work have become increasingly more intricate over time and address the viewer in a language that is private, intense and consistently self-referential.
Michael Filan’s paintings reflect that we live in a world of sensory overload. But within this context a higher order is found in his work, and he has achieved succinct clarity.
Brilliant colors are dripped, poured and sprayed in a completely spontaneous manner, and the ways Filan handles paint, he moves into his own space and with his own language. His dialogue is only about what is happening with paint, which he refers to as “light.” With a controlled moment of “light”
he brings viewers into his extremely personal space.
A continuity of language is also found in earlier work, but his newer paintings contain fewer visual elements. This is demonstrated in “At the Rivers Edge” and “A Red Matter.”
The complexity of the illuminated kaleidoscope of color that Filan mixes directly on the canvas opens viewers to a powerful sense of freedom. The marks and color dance freely in the space, with each painting maintaining its own strong identity.
Richard Timperio
Sideshow
Artist Featured in Exhibition
Michael Filan
Michael Filan's spiritual journey is communicated through the quiet and intense working time of the painting process. Something divine within gets expressed in an almost meditative manner. With clarity and grace he shares his passion for color and the excitement of the creative process with all that engage with his work.
Born and raised in Brooklyn N.Y., Michael was influenced as a young child by his maternal and paternal grandfathers who both worked in the arts. At the age of nine Michael vowed to become an artist and told his family that one day he would go to Pratt Institute to study art. He did go on to study at Pratt, where he earned a bachelor's degree in painting and art education as well as a masters degree in art therapy. Michael has enjoyed a successful career as a painter and printmaker. He is also a member of the faculty at the School of Visual Arts' Master of Arts in Teaching program where he trains future art teachers.
Michael has also joined the staff of TAI, The Actors Institute. TAI is an international teaching and consulting firm. TAI uses principles from the performing arts to change behavior and improve performance in companies and individuals. Michael works with individual clients as well as running workshops.