Description
‘Refresh Ritual’ by Michael Koehler
Artist: Michael Koehler
Title: ‘Refresh Ritual’
Medium: Acrylic on wood panel
Dimensions: 16″ x 16″
Framing: Framed (frame size: 17.5″ x 17.5″)
Year of Creation: 2022
About the Artwork:
An automaton lies abandoned deep below the immense weight of the ocean. It appears unmoved but battered by the ever-shifting currents of the sea. It watches vacantly as the deep blue abyss surrounds its view. Its gaze breaks as its eyes flicker with light, its metallic jaws open slightly, and rich, green water pours from some hidden well inside its walls. As if by some strange design the automaton begins to sprout and bloom, reinvigorating itself and appearing
light even under the ever-present pressure from above.
The concept of the painting is inspired by the act of setting aside the time to perform a sort of ritual that allows one to free themselves from the pressures of life and to gain a sense of stillness within the chaos of existence.
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Michael Koehler was born in 1983. He studied graphic design, graduating in 2006. Working as an in-house and freelance designer for several years, he eventually found his interests turn to painting. Since then Michael’s work has been shown in galleries across the U.S. including Seattle, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Philadelphia in group and solo shows. He has been featured in publications such as Widewalls, Brut Magazine, Dish Rag Magazine, and Artsin Square. He currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA with his partner and studio-mate, Masha.
Michael’s work, which is brought to life by acrylic paint, is inspired by our shifting relationship to nature in an increasingly technologically dependent world. Many pieces attempt to strike a delicate balance between the enchanting allure and underlying peril of both the natural and unnatural worlds. An array of robotic and animalistic figures, who are on occasion blended together, forming a being that is both at once plant and machine, inhabit Koehler’s sparse
environments. These beings, who are assembled out of an intricate array of wires, tubes, plants and flowers forming into a mosaic of expressions, sit front and center in each surreal portrait. The color palette in each piece leans toward full saturation contrasted by rich black while the forms are generally tightly rendered forms within loose, flowing shapes.