Biography

Born in Detroit, Michigan, 1951.

Studied Painting and Art History at Western Michigan University
Graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Painting, 1977

After receiving his degree Michael became one of the co-founders of the Fexon Group, which was a loose organization of painters, writers, and musicians from the midwest who staged various events in Kalamazoo and Chicago before relocating to the East Coast in 1980. The members con- tinued to have exhibits and events – individually and collectively – in Boston, New York, and Chicago until the mid-1980’s when the group permanently disbanded. Michael moved back to Michigan in 1985 and turned towards music for the rest of the 80’s and the early 90’s, although he continued painting in his Ann Arbor basement studio. During this period he did illustrations and design for Whittle Communications and Musician magazine and designed a CD package for Amsterdam based avant- garde composer Jon Rose as well as several commissioned canvas paintings.

His first exhibits of new work were at the Ann Arbor Public Library in 1999 and the Seagate Gallery in Toledo in 2001 documenting a renewed interest in painting that began in 1995. Following the Ann Arbor show, Michael began to show at the newly opened River Gallery. He has been repre- sented by River ever since. A group of ‘anti-war’paintings on canvas and paper were featured at River Gallery in 2006. One of these paintings was chosen for a special exhibit that travelled to Tanzania and was arranged by the Toldeo Council for The Arts. In 2010, he was featured in an exhibit at Western Michigan University’s Gwen Frostic School of Art. WMU purchased one of these works for their collec- tion. Michael’s paintings are in private collections across the country.