Michael Shores
A Return to Painting
The work represented on this site is a kaleidoscopic sampling of my last quarter century as a fine art painter. I returned to painting in 1992 after abandoning this activity for fifteen years. During this absence I created collages and drawings and pursued musical disciplines. The break proved to be beneficial endowing me with a fresh eye and many ideas for the kind of paintings I wanted to produce.
My first work was Caligula and this prompted me to create The Bloody Tyrants, a series of artistic portraits of dictators past and present.
I next marched boldly into the territory of Vampires, a group of paintings based surprisingly, not on fantasy but historical fact. The social aspects of my creations were coming through like shards of glass poking through soil. The imagery was frequently violent but strangely tempered by bright colors and cartoon- like figures. Many examples are included here including Vlad the Impaler and the Hungarian Countess Bathory, both figures whose reigns were drenched in blood. Political leaders and corporate heads such as Henry Ford were given the treatment as well.
Next on my palette was a series of paintings co-created with my wife and artistic collaborator, Angela Mark. We delved into the always-interesting sphere of interpersonal relationships with The Bizarre World of Kinky Sex. This series ended up being exhibited many times and won an award being featured in the volume, The World's Best Erotic Art of Today.
My most recent solo exhibitions, Visions of the Otherworld focused on the unseen metaphysical universe and Cloud Creatures and Other Delusions reflects a place populated with biomorphic but vaguely humanoid forms.
My influences include many things from art by native peoples, psychedelic posters and album art, comic books and Mad Magazine as well as science fiction and monster movies. The Dadaists and Surrealists were my predecessors and artists such as Clovis Trouille, Victor Brauner, Wilheim Freddie and Max Ernst all strongly affected me and gave me the courage to pursue an artistic career. I hope in my humble way to continue their tradition of creating fun and exciting art.