Mikel Glass

My work is often characterized by a tension between subconscious concepts and deliberate execution.

For me, painting is a vehicle with which to explore the psyche. Chance and free association are ready doors to explore one’s condition. I feel akin to the Dadaists and Surrealists in their fear of the tyranny of the obvious and the conscious.

As a consequence, I divide into two personalities when working. First is the Zen artist who comes up with the ideas in an intuitive realm. The second is the craftsman who must actually execute those images in paint.

As an artist, I feel kinship with the Freudian inspired artists that modernism has unleashed. As a craftsman, I admire Rubens and Rembrandt as the ultimate executors of painting as a craft.

The greatest peril in my process is when I come up with an idea that swims in my head. . . only to realize that it may not be appreciated by others in the physical realm.

The greatest triumph in my process is when I am able to pluck a flapping image down from the clouds of the subconscious and set it firmly in paint, where it is then appreciated by others.

Either way art, at its best, provides fodder for thought. It is my hope that my work acts as a catalyst for this process.