Michael Provenza is a contemporary landscape oil painter who has developed a distinctive pointillistic style and blending technique that exudes a realistic and dimensional quality, yet is surreal and magical.
His work reflects many years of experimentation with various approaches to his subject, nature. Michael’s recent original work captures Life’s Journeywith the use of paths and stripes surrounded by earth’s ethereal beauty and glory. The artist’s inspirational stories combined with the paths appearing in every scene of his recent work are quickly giving him the title “Painter of Paths.”
Inspired by his artist grandfather, Michael began painting at age nine and continues to diligently produce oil paintings as his life-long passion. This native of the California Bay Area has won several awards in local and regional art competitions and has exhibited in art galleries around the country. Today, his inspiration is derived from his constant amazement of nature and God. The pointillists, meticulous in their form of painting in which tiny dots of primary colors are used to generate secondary colors, seem at first glimpse to be heavily influenced by Georges Seurat. The surrealists, who express imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control, initially seem to be greatly influenced by Salvador Dali. But further acquaintance with Michael’s unique biography and the sources/influences behind his work, reveal an artist who has profound passion, intellectual rigor and solid technique to create a genuinely original body of work.
Incorporating traditional and contemporary art techniques, such as pointillism and a distinctive use of color and light, introduces depth, meticulous detail and serenity to the work. Michael uses a blending medium to create realistic clouds and lighting effects. Special paintbrushes help accomplish the pointillist effect for foliage, grasses and background hills. This process introduces the unique look of texture to the work. The artist’s careful approach to laying down color in a specific order, balanced with his rigorous compositional approach, creates a multi-dimensional feeling. Viewers comment that Michael’s paintings have an atmospheric depth, as if you can just walk right in and feel the textures of all that is around. “My passion has always been to paint scenery that will bring viewers into my paintings and become engaged with the diverse qualities of nature – with a twist,” says Michael. The twist is not only reflected in the story behind each painting, but more importantly it’s discovered through each viewer’s reaction and the connection to their personal life experiences.
Michael Provenza’s newest series of work, Life’s Journey, represents a highly evolved stage of the techniques and style he has been developing for years. Life’s Journey, which is composed of several pieces from landscapes to seascapes, is meant to convey the spirit of earth’s beauty combined with a unique perspective (the twist), to create the possibility for viewers to imagine being in the environment in order to experience an extraordinary life path offered, presented in an unexpected way. The depth and detail of certain elements – such as the water, mist and sky – manifest a realistic feeling. Yet beyond the confines of reality lies a rich interplay of fantasy, emotion and spirituality that transforms the work beyond three dimensions creating a unique complexity that can only be described as realistic surrealism. The evocativeness of these pieces is achieved through a vital palette of colors, formal ingenuity and imagination that elevates light and color to a striking and prominent role.
