Michael Page's "Anunnakis Taking"

Living with the pieces from “Into Passing” over the past few weeks has been really interesting, and we’ve gotten an incredible amount of feedback from visitors coming in to see the giant, amorphous paintings. We were curious about where the inspirations for the work started, so we sat down with Michael Page to talk a little bit more about his ideas, life in San Francisco, and what his personal artistic ambitions are.

More after the jump!

So you’re a San Francisco-based artist. Why here? Tell us a little bit about what your life as an artist here is like.

I pretty much love California. Over the years, I’ve traveled through many parts of the country, and I still find myself drawn to the west coast. I grew up down south and in my early 20’s decided to move up here. The city vibe and the amazing art community here has made SF feel like home. With our friends and the great restaurants it would be hard to want to be anywhere else right now. Everyday in the city is nothing but good times pretty much at all times. I wake up and paint with my friends all day long then hang with my amazing wife in the late evenings, can’t really beat it.

What are some of your favorite things about the city?

There are so many things about this city that are amazing. I love being able to go out with my wife Kristen and explore the city’s many neighborhoods. My brother also lives here along with a strong base of great friends. And, you can’t beat the weather…80 degrees in February is pretty awesome!

Can you talk a little bit about the shift between your last body of work, and the work from “Into Passing?”

The shift is definitely there, but I think it was minor from the last body of work where I was dealing with more apocalyptical visions of man’s demise. With this body of work I felt the need to incorporate more figures into my paintings thus bringing a more personal feel to it. I suppose I felt I was painting myself into a corner with my previous work. I needed to end that way of thinking and break out with something special and new, at least for me. With this work I wanted to not only prove to myself I was up for a creative challenge, but to my friends who had suggested it. I need to keep evolving as a painter and try as many techniques as I can. It’s important that my subject matter be always evolving and changing so I can be forever learning the craft.

Break down your process a little bit, tell us how you take something from an idea to a finished work. How do ideas for a piece usually hit you?

I begin with a general idea of what I may want to paint. At times a group of ideas may come about but as I start the actual painting process I bring out shapes and colors to formulate a subject matter. By that point a solid idea will have come about…a process that can take up to many weeks. I start in Acrylic paint and from there coat and move to oil paints. That’s where the colors pop and the shapes really come to life. When I’m in the final stages with the painting I generally will add four to five coats of finishing to give a nice gloss to the work.

What are some tools/items that you consider to be essential to your studio set-up?

I have to have my painting table and I love my easel. But I guess those are not the most essential tools. It would have to be my brushes and paints and any other materials that are able to make marks onto surfaces. Everything else is secondary.

Can you tell us a little bit about the sculptural elements in this show, and how/why you decided to incorporate something other than traditional painting?

The sculptural elements were kind of a fluke. I moved into a new studio and my good friend James Charles (who is showing with Shooting Gallery in May) and I decided that I needed front window installations. He had Popsicle sticks and yarn and we had made old camp style gods eyes out of them. From there we made 3-D sculptures with these gods eyes. The colors popped so much and looked so good with the paintings that we could not resist having them in my show. We enjoyed creating these sculptures so much, we’re putting together a plan for a collaborative show featuring them hopefully sometime next year.

What are your thoughts on installation art and more traditional media living in the same space together? What are some of the challenges? Benefits? Interesting moments?

I love being able to see them both. It’s great to see what an artist can do in all different mediums. The challenges are no more difficult with installation art, just more equations to solve. It’s like a painting, but you have to really conceptualize the space that the piece is going into. The benefits are that you have to think more about what you are creating and how it will flow with your work. You teach yourself quicker ways in solving problems which will help in learning new techniques while applying those to other mediums. The interesting moments are always happening in the studio, that’s where everything magical happens and you’ll find yourself seeing something come to life that you never thought was possible. Layers of mind are peeled back while exploring different mediums.

Any favorite parts of this particular collection of work?

I had an amazing time creating these pieces. This show in particular taught me really valuable information with layering, glazing, and color formats. When I first sat down to start this body of work I decided that I should not hold anything back. I wanted to try and experiment as much as possible. There were so many different breakthroughs and “surprising moments” with this show it’s hard to find one that would stand out. The entire body of work was an experiment and a surprise I guess. I’m eager for the next show to give me an opportunity to apply what I’ve learned and try out more ideas that I have.

Which direction do you feel yourself going in as an artist after the completion of this body of work?

I’m going to continue in the direction that my work is in right now. I’m really trying to give my work a more abstract feeling to them. So maybe bring more abstract elements to the work. I like the idea of having realist moments in my paintings, but also the chaos and out of control brush strokes that can be blended in as well. I can’t say for sure what I’ll be feeling in months from now or even weeks from now. All I know is that the minute I get bored with an idea or subject matter, I move along and experiment. It’s almost certain that it will continue on into future.