49 Days/49 Doors Nos. 16 & 17 Painting

Michael Taav was born in New York City. He is a painter, sculptor, photographer, writer and filmmaker who began painting in 1999. What little he knew at the outset, he had learned from observing his friends, Grant Drumheller, Katherine Sherwood, Joanne Landes, and Betsy Rosenwald. In 2012, seeking seclusion, he left the city and moved to "the styx of Wisconsin" where he could experiment freely, discover new tools and techniques, make a few "fortuitous mistakes" and ideally, progress more rapidly. In the years preceding his move, Taav had worked as a cab driver, a feature film director, a house painter, art model, screenwriter, playwright, gardener, tutor, author, university professor, telemarketer, door-to-door salesman, journalist, tennis instructor, tennis hustler, script consultant, dramaturge, ghost writer, guest lecturer, warehouse worker, and essayist. Since 2012, he has supported himself through the sale of his paintings, commissioned writings, and the royalties from his films, plays, books, and screenplays.