Michael Dwyer

Color is foremost for me. A sense of movement has also been an important element in my work for a long time. Earlier pieces often conveyed a feeling of forms drifting in space. Then there was a shift in my paintings toward using linear compositions to create direction. I wanted your eye to move along a variety of courses or circuits and have experiences along the way. I also found from my earlier collage work that I liked shapes in my paintings to have crisp, assertive edges, like those that came from using scissors.

Currently I'm using a lot of masking tape and more often than not, painting with a palette knife instead of a brush. Over the last few years, simplifying the forms and narrowing the parameters in my work has allowed me to make the paintings more focused, and to develop a more personal vocabulary. Ultimately, I'm always chasing that transcendent moment where color, shape, texture and movement come together in a way that"˜s thrilling and right.

Master of Fine Arts, The University of South Carolina, 1993

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Syracuse University, 1985