Michael Berube
119 Payson Ave. 3G
10034 New York
USA (United States)
http://www.michaelberube.net
Kunstart: Malerei
Technik: Acryl
Statement:
I am interested in the power of seduction. I am interested in a beauty that toys with excess and the abandon of Jouissance. I believe that seduction is a major element in my favorite work and in my own, I believe that beauty, an element of seduction, is something essential and not to be feared. Beauty comes in many forms. It can be glorious and it is capable of being strangely sad or dark and ominous and that range is very exciting. I am fascinated by color and pattern, charged with the dialectics inherent in issues of taste and aesthetics, and informed by an identity infused camp sensibility. My work has a direct relationship to the body, in its imagery and its scale. In imagery, it refers to the abject by its twisting, tumor-like forms that emerge from the painted marks and in the fabrics that reference clothing and the home, here carved and fragmented and embedded into a kaleidoscopic landscape. The work also confronts the body with its scale which is both awesome and intimate. I believe that these are ideas that, at their most provocative, are a testament to imagination and the best and worst of what it means to be human. I choose to believe that these ideas are best investigated through the discipline of painting. I believe there is a forbidding, terrible side to these interests and that there is a great wealth of humor inherent in them as well. I aim to address all of these interests via my work.
One core idea, other than seduction and beauty, which is essential to my thinking and contributes heavily to my work, is found in the word excess. Excess and the manner in which it has been interpreted and represented over the centuries is something that has always fascinated me conceptually. I have a profound connection to those excessive elements, as I interpret them, found in the art of the Baroque period, especially the religious art of Italy. Drawing from elements of that period, such as scale, shape, shine, pattern, and the symbolic nature of the metallic colors of gold and bronze, my latest work is driven by the idea that the excesses of our contemporary time might be represented through the creation of a contemporary version of the Baroque, divorced from the religious content and exploring a purely secular imagery. It offers me a way in which to address my identity issues by exploiting the inherently camp sensibility of the aesthetics of taste and the decorative. This camp sensibility confronts my interest in the concept of beauty and complicates a purely aesthetic reading of the work.
Finally, I believe that art creates a social space in which ideas, conversations, and perspectives can interact with a vast array of interested parties. I believe that a work of art is never complete until it has an audience.
Vita / Lebenslauf:
Michael Berube
119 Payson Ave. #3G
New York, NY 10034
(212) 544-8551 (917) 239-0805
BerubeLondon@verizon.net
Education:
2007- MFA, Hunter College, NYC.
2004-2007 BFA. Hunter College, NYC.
1975-77 Associates Degree-Commercial Art, Bryant & Stratton, Buffalo, NY.
Employment:
2010-present Outpost NYC DCG. Independent Research Assistant.
2010 Listed Substitute art teacher candidate, Riverdale
County School and Horace Mann, Bronx
2010 Teaching Assistant, Drawing, Creighton Michael, Hunter
College, NYC
2010 Teaching Assistant, BFA Professional Ex. In Art,
Gabriele Evertz, Hunter College, NYC
2009 Teaching Assistant, Painting, Gabriele Evertz, Hunter
College, NYC.
2009 Teaching Assistant, Collage/Assemblage, Joel
Carriero, Hunter College, NYC.
1999-2004 The Alpha Workshops, Decorative Artist.
Exhibitions:
2011 Recyclables / art made from recycled materials. Hudson
Guild Gallery II, NYC. Group Show.
2011 LiloVeve Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Group Show
2010 Accepted, Re-title.com juried web registry.
2010 Hunter College MFA Thesis Exhibition, Group Show
2009 Visual Aids Web Gallery, August, Group Show
2009 Soft Box, Queens NYC, Group Show.
2009 Alchemy. Hudson Guild Gallery, NYC, Group Show
2008 Visual Aids Web Gallery, October, Group Show
2007 Visual Aids Web Gallery, October, Group Show curated by
Allison Hawkins
2007 BFA Degree Show, Bertha & Karl Leubsdorf Gallery, NY, NY.
2006 Inner Visions, Group Show, Local Proje Long Island City,
NY.
2006 Visual Aids Web Gallery, February, Group Show curated by
David Humphrey.
2005-2006 Undergraduate Show, Hunter College. Group Show.
2004 Fading Ad Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Group Show.
2003 Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender Community Center, New
York.
2001 Just Positive Web Show hosted by A Virtual Memorial.
World AIDS Day.
2002 View Bar, New York. Gay Pride Group Show.
2001 The Actor's Fund, New York. World AIDS Day.
2001 Art For Heart, New York. Group Show.
1984 Avenue A Restaurant & Gallery, New York. Group Show.
1979 University of Buffalo, Buffalo. Student Art Show.
Awards:
2011 Visual AIDS materials grant
2010 Hunter College Nominee Joan Mitchell Graduate Studies Award
2010 Graf Travel Grant, Hunter College, NYC
2009 Provost’s Graduate Studies Award, Hunter College, NYC
2008 Visual AIDS materials grant
2007 David & Sadie Klau Foundation Fellowship, Hunter College,
NYC
2007 The Somerville Art Prize, Hunter College, NYC
2007 The Tom Woods Award
Publications:
2010 Hunter College 2010 Thesis Exhibition catalog
2004 A&U Magazine, April 2004, Issue #114
Related Experience:
1999-Present Member of Visual AIDS Archives Project.
1987-1992 Recording Artist, Dream Records under the name Michael London.
1983-1988 Actor in various experiment Theater venues such as: The Amazing Spear of Destiny by Kestutis Knakis at The Kitchen, New York, Chamber Music for Tweed, The Ballet of the Dolls by John Epperson at The Pyramid, New York for Tweed, and Julie is Her Name .
1983-1988 House Performer. The Pyramid Club, New York.
Aktivitäten / Ausstellungen:
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english
español
francais
russkii
