Michael Patterson is one of only nine American painters in the past 100 years chosen to represent the United States in the prestigious Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA) exhibit at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris. “Beach Light and Shadows” was chosen for this venue.
Artist Statement
My work has focus on several objectives. Light, reflected light and its color effects, as well as the positive and negative shapes of equal importance, create the graphic energy of my compositions. This sets the rhythm for a piece and influences where the viewer’s eye travels and at what pace.
I include curved lines with straight, organic shapes juxtaposed geometric shapes woven together, always conscious of the line created by any color masses converging. This line flows throughout, interrupted, yet continuous.
Finally, the subject of my work most always includes the human figure wherever they may be- city streets, markets, the beach, alone or in groups. Beyond all other beauty in the world, people in all their complexities, are the pinnacle of beauty.
Biography
Michael Patterson was born in Hudson, NY in 1953 into a family of painters. Howard Ashman Patterson, his grandfather, was an established American painter. Michael graduated from Suny Purchase with honors in painting, printmaking, and sculpture. He has been painting for thirty-five years or so, doing extensive traveling for inspiration. His travels include Vermont, Maine, California, New Mexico, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Europe. He lived in France for several years. Michael has shown his work in Europe and the U.S., primarily in the Northeast.
Through the years his work has gone in and out of several styles and series of subjects. He is drawn to many of the same things visually that he was drawn to years ago …. rainy city streets, sun on sparkling waters, faces, hands, clouds, sky, dappled sunlight, people at the beach, people playing music and expressing feelings.
In addition to continuing his painting, he has returned to creating sculptures in stone and clay, both figurative and abstract. Michael’s work is in over 500 private and corporate collections in the United States and Europe. His home and studio are on the Shepaug River in Roxbury, Connecticut where he lives with his wife, Jessyka.
