He Said Don't Ride Your Bike on the Paper Route Painting

Artist Statement: My work is built on contrast. I come from a rural, small-town background far removed from major art centers, and that distance has shaped both my independence and my perspective. I did not inherit a scene; I built a practice. As a painter and printmaker, I work through layered processes that balance instinct with intention. Influenced by the gestural legacy of Abstract Expressionism and the immediacy of street art, I treat the surface as a site of tension and discovery. I often push a piece to the edge of collapse before resolving it, allowing risk to become part of the final composition. The friction between structure and spontaneity defines my visual language. My work is autobiographical in origin. I create from memory, class, identity, humor, and contradiction. Because it is grounded in lived experience, it carries authenticity rather than performance. Within these personal narratives are broader themes of resilience, aspiration, vulnerability, and transformation. Viewers may not share my story, but they often recognize something of their own within it. My practice is consistent and cumulative. Each body of work builds upon the last, forming an evolving but cohesive trajectory. Over time, a distinct language has emerged, bold and layered, rooted in where I come from and committed to where the work is going. Artist Bio: Michael Doering (b. 1966) is an American painter and printmaker whose work merges personal history with a distinctly contemporary visual language. Born in Mason City, Iowa, and now based in Reno, Nevada, Doering was raised in a working-class Midwestern family with little exposure to fine art. Drawing from an early age with whatever materials were available, he developed a self-reliant and disciplined approach that continues to inform his studio practice. Rooted in rural America yet engaged in the language of modern painting, Doering’s work explores themes of identity, class, memory, and contradiction. Often autobiographical, his paintings balance storytelling with abstraction, informed by the expressive traditions of Expressionism, Post-Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, and the immediacy of street art. The result is a body of work that is both deeply personal and broadly resonant. He earned a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Iowa, studying painting and drawing with Ben Frank Moss and printmaking with Virginia Myers.