The paintings in the Static Flux series often focus on environments in flux, whether they are actively changing or less obviously changing. This process of change (such as a construction site) contains temporary moments that may only be viewed during a certain window of time. Once the site is finished the building process becomes sealed over and hidden. The process of creating a painting is a series of motions and brushstrokes in flux until the final result is presented to the viewer who only sees the final fixed image. The process of the painting is hidden in the layers.
The Endtimes series that followed the landscape series is by no means an apogee, it’s instead an ongoing exploration of process, repetition and iconography. The loose representational imagery is mostly rendered from memory, although some referential work is involved as well. The symbolism of that imagery has personal meaning around themes of value, loss, hierarchy, authenticity and consumption. These themes I feel have always been present in my work, but were expressed more outwardly or perhaps subjectively in earlier pieces. Each piece in this ongoing series will, I hope, eventually serve as a kind of hieroglyph in a language that explains my purpose for creating artwork and will continue to evolve through changes in life, imagery, and physical interaction with materials.
Disposable Aesthetics is a bit of a continuation of the Static Flux series; that is, a consideration of the temporariness of objects in a disposable society through painstaking, detailed paintings. The paintings focus on capturing the collective disassociation that most people have with the litany of identical disposable objects that get thrown away on a daily basis. Our numbness to the excessive use of plastic on a global scale is perhaps aided by the craft of the package designs. The alluring and convenient nature of a soy sauce packet or origami box is strongly associated with the saturated tastes of readily available take-away foods that grease the wheels of a culture on the move. The paintings are intended to capture the insidious beauty of the objects as well as give them a permanence through preservation in paint.
Couch Series began as a further exploration on themes of waste, decay, flux and time. Some are interiors and some are exteriors, but without a focus on deep depth or horizon. The images are mostly snapshots taken on dSLR or iPhone while in transit; each moment embodies a fixation on objects that have deteriorated or are in a state of abandonment. The series began with a photo of my grandparents' early 20th century sofa which resides in my bedroom. Covered with debris, surrounded by synthetic clothing and plastic objects, it harbors a layer of dust beneath it. Somehow light yet solid, it sits on a hundred-plus-year-old oak floor amidst a trove of bedroom detritus. After completing the initial work, the series expanded as I gathered similar imagery from my travels. Working small on primed Strathmore rag paper provided a quick means of engaging with these images, as well as the feeling of painting on an impermanent scrap. For years I've been tinkering with ways to infuse the idea of decay directly into the works, and although this isn't entirely a direct method it does suggest a sense of impermanence and delicateness in the media and edges.
Michael Angelis lives and works in New Haven, CT. He received an MEA from the Teachers College at Columbia and his BFA from SUNY Purchase with a concentration in printmaking. His work has been included in many exhibits in the northeast US.