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Michael St. Amand<br />
United States of America<br />
St. Amand (Born 1958) uses a multi-disciplined approach to his art making – painting,<br />
printmaking, digital art, video, sculpture, installations, and mixed media constructs.<br />
The artist’s work cannot be classified within a particular generation of art movements.<br />
St. Amand’s style is a combination of Avant-Garde, Abstract Expressionism, Modernism,<br />
and Color-Field Painting. The artist focuses on the basic elements of an artwork<br />
– color, shape, and composition and chooses materials to psychologically evoke certain<br />
kinds of feelings.<br />
St. Amand’s paintings affect the space in which they hang. His use of multi-layered<br />
raw, vibrant color and fluorescent pigments put the viewer on the spot. His paintings<br />
vibrate with energy and light causing the art to interact with the audience. The<br />
artwork reflects glaring bursts of color back at the viewer, necessitating a multi-angled<br />
tour of the canvas in order to form a complete image of it. Because of the way light<br />
reacts to the fluorescent pigments, as ones physical relationship to them changes so<br />
does the artwork.<br />
Repicant 2012<br />
There is nothing “quick” about St. Amand's work. His art needs time to be ingested,<br />
digested, and contemplated. Messages are coming from all sides -- political, social,<br />
cultural, sexual, and aesthetical. St. Amand juxtaposes the sacred with the profane<br />
and leaves the viewers to determine where on the continuum their perceptions lie.<br />
“All the objects are just objects. As with all art, it is what the viewer brings to it,” St.<br />
Amand says of his work. “It is the viewer’s own – very personal – reactionary emotion<br />
or self-analysis. Whether it is disdain or shock, passion or compassion, every<br />
person will create his or her own truth attached to the work.” This is at the heart<br />
of St. Amand’s work. As art, his pieces are unique and visually engaging. As social<br />
commentary, they are thought evoking and provoking. His work inspires conversation<br />
and insight into three worlds: the artist’s, the one in which we all share, and the very<br />
personal one within each individual.<br />
Michael St. Amand, with the endorsement of the United States Embassy and The<br />
Georgian Ministry of Culture, had two solo exhibitions: Myths and Mayhem exhibited<br />
at the Tbilisi History Museum and the Signagi Museum in the Republic of Georgia in<br />
2013. In addition he has earned numerous awards for his work. The artist has been<br />
listed in Art in America Magazine’s Who’s Who in American Art. He has exhibited<br />
his art nationally and internationally, including Paris, Bordeaux, New York City, The<br />
Republic of Georgia, Germany, Dallas, New Zealand, Washington, D.C., and throughout<br />
Florida. His work can be found in many corporate and private collections.<br />
Photo Credit: Michael St. Amand by Nicholas Berdysheff<br />
Tipping Point 2013<br />
www.michaelstamand.com<br />
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