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Werner Michael

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The Perfect Life In A Perfect Home, 2005, Photograph, varying sizes up to 39,4" x 59" (100 x 150 cm). From the series "The Remixes"

The body of my work is an investigation into the concepts of home and place. It is about a place you have been before, the one you are currently in, and the one in which you want to be or are dreaming about. Ideal places in a world that is constantly changing.

It is as much about the imaginary or idealized as about real places reminiscent of the home you left.

In our world today, where migration is a process of survival, home is not necessarily where you were born anymore, it can be far away from that place in a culture which is totally different from your own. There is always an image or feeling of a place or landscape we desire to be in or part of, where we feel totally comfortable, even if it's only a romantic idealized home in our imagination.

The photographs provide in vibrant colors and aesthetics the perception of a perfect environment. Enigmatic and seductive, you are lured into the image with a sense of awe and wonder

The works of the series "The Classics," I present exactly how the eye sees it, without any manipulation in the darkroom or on the computer.

The series "The Remixes" is manipulated on the computer and has its origin in modern music. In the 1970‘s the first new mixes of an already existing song appeared, nowadays it is allpresent and common to produce different mixes of songs to elicit different emotions and styles. In this series I have transposed this practice into the field of fine arts to create different, new versions from selected "classic" shots which provide totally different emotions and feelings to the viewer. Some of them are like childhood memories, because of the fading colors, some are more saturated and fit more into the world of fantasy.

The photographs are flooded with light and colors, on first glance they have an enigmatic quality - are they really photographs, or paintings in an impressionistic, romantic style? This quality is also accentuated by the large physical scale of the photographs.

I developed the series "The Mirages" simply in the pure joy of the creative process. They are like a fata morgana, a country in the future. Houses become starships floating in a weightless space. Landscapes to a science fiction world, some of them psychedlic or surreal. The world turns upside down, there is no up and no down, the law of gravity is out of order. The viewer dives into an alien and unknown world.

All the different series have their origin in the "Classics" and work with the same photographs as a base. They initiate stories which the viewer can create in his or her fantasy.

Werner Michael

1959 born in Hanau, Germany

Lives and works in Frankfurt, Germany

Education

Diploma in Graphic-Design at SgD Darmstadt under Prof. Müller-Linow.

Grants

Artist in residence in the studio of the Hessische Kulturstiftung (Cultural Art Foundation of the State of Hesse, Germany) in New York City, 112 Hudson Street, 10013 NYC

Solo Exhibitions

2006 The Perfect Life, Kulturverein Hanau
1994 Neue Mainzer Zeitung, Mainz
1990 Gallery Schlotterbeck, Schöneck
1988 Museum Hanau
City of Frankenthal, Pfalz
1987 Bank fuer Gemeinwirtschaft, Hanau

Group Exhibitions

2006 The Clothesline Show, ABC No Rio, New York
2006 The 4 x 6 Benefit Show, The Creative Center,
New York
2006 Visual AIDS Postcards from the Edge Benefit,
Gallery Sikkema Jenkins & Co, New York
2006 Night of 1000 Drawings, Artists Space, New
York
2006 Masters Mystery Art Show, Ritz Carlton-Art
Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach
2006 Snap to Grid, LACDA-Los Angeles Center for
Digital Art, Los Angeles
2005 Masters Mystery Art Show, Ritz-Carlton Miami
Beach
2005 Night of 1.000 Drawings, Artists Space,
New York
2005 Visual AIDS Postcards from the Edge Benefit,
Robert Miller Gallery, New York
2005 Art Exchange Hanau - Bouxvillier, Museum
Hanau
2005 Snap to Grid, Los Angeles Center for Digital
Art, Los Angeles USA
2003 Hessen to Houston, visual art@media center,
Rice University, Houston / Texas
1999 Das Magische Quadrat, Museum Hanau
1994 Museum of Art, Jaroslawl, Russia
Art of Hanau in the 20st. century, Museum
Hanau
1989 Spring Street Gallery, New York City
Art in Hanau, Museum Hanau
Virginia Beach Art Gallery, Virginia Beach,
USA

Projects

2005 working and living in Sydney (Australia)
2004 working in Sydney, creating new series
„cinemascopes“ and „mirages“

Collections

Museum Hanau
Dr. Jürgen Heraeus, Germany
Michael Steinberg Fine Art, New York

Bibliography

Catalog to the exhibition „Hessen to Houston“
Catalog to the exhibition „Das Magische Quadrat“, Museum Hanau
Catalog to the exhibition „Art of Hanau in the 20st. century“, Museum of Art, Jaroslawl and Museum Hanau
Catalog to the exhibition „Art in Hanau“, Museum Hanau
Catalog to the exhibition in the Museum Hanau, Schloß Philippsruhe

Links

http://www.michael-werner.com
http://www.mwernertruth.blogspot.com
http://www.cafepress.com/mwerner

Werner Michael

Grünewaldstr. 21
63452 Hanau

49 (0) 6181 16614
mwerner@nyc.com
www.michael-werner.com