Michael Pearce (artist)
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Michael Pearce (born 1965) is an English,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
-based figurative painter and author.


Personal life

Since 1990 Pearce has lived in California, having left
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
to move to Thousand Oaks in 2008, he is now a
Ventura County Ventura County () is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises ...
resident. He is married to art historian Aihua Zhou.


Life and work

Michael J. Pearce was born in
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, in 1965. He is a figurative painter and an outspoken proponent of what he terms "skill-based art". Writing for
KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...
, Sarah Linn describes Pearce's painting as " ssive, mythical and brimming with allegorical subtext . . thatdemonstrate a subtle alchemy all their own -- the transformation of ordinary oil paint and canvas into narratives that embrace the magic and romance of an earlier era." "Much of Pearce’s art is figurative and allegorical. He uses oil paint to transform canvases into stories that embrace the magic and romance of an earlier era. He uses conceptual themes that capture his audience by encouraging their individual imaginative interpretation of the events he has painted. There’s meaning here — a reconstruction of ideas bigger than self — that makes these paintings feel greater than their already large size." The works are marked by the use of symbolism, male and female imagery and celestial references to address the mystical relationship between man and God. They are "a beguiling mix of old-school technique and fresh narrative possibility". Pearce paints in oils on canvas, sometimes stretched over a wooden panel, creating allegorical or narrative figurative compositions of mystical or alchemical subjects. His installation work was typically made from simple materials like wood, greenware clay and beeswax, and was sourced from prehistory and alchemy. Speaking about his 2008 ''The Principle'' installation, Pearce said: "Alchemical imagery is so rich and mysterious that it can't fail to be exciting to an artist." In 2009 he combined actual alchemical experimentation with his artwork, showing his ''Cabinet of Alchemical Wonders'' in an exhibit in Glendale, California, including a reflux still within the centre of a large glowing tree. His body of work connects him to his study of
natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...
,''Philosophical ideas of ancient scientists inspired artist's new CLU show'' Time Out, Ventura County Star, Thursday October 9th 2008 an area he explored when studying early archaeological texts by
William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...
and
John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded (often for the first time) numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England ...
, whose eclectic writings led him to explore alchemical symbolism, steering the direction of his work toward mystical allegory. After 2008, Pearce became solely interested in oil painting, and began work on a series of new allegorical figurative works. The first of the group was exhibited in August 2011 at California Lutheran University in an exhibit titled "The New Romantic Figure", with prominent Californian artists including
Alexey Steele Alexey Steele (born 1967 in Kyiv, Soviet Ukraine) is an American painter of the Russian Representational School and a Soviet Art scholar. He moved to Los Angeles in 1990. Steele gained recognition for his unusual multi-figure compositions of an exce ...
, Jeremy Lipking, Tony Pro, Mia Tavonatti, Cyn McCurry, Peter Adams (President of the California Art Club) and Michael Lynn Adams. Looking back to the past for inspiration in his 2012 exhibit "Emblemata" he used 15th-century emblem books and tarot cards as source material, and presented art historical lectures on the Magician and the Fool archetypes. Many of the paintings were presented in dramatic tabernacle frames that replicated those found on 19th Century
Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...
works, whose wet-white painting methods he researched and used in the production of some of the canvases. Although he uses Victorian and Renaissance studio techniques, he is determinedly contemporary, saying: "We can't be painting for the 19th century - we have to paint for the 21st century...."Ventura County Star, August 28th 2011, Art Show Features Resurgence of Figurative Art


Love

In 2015, he painted a new group of 15 paintings called "Love", which caught the attention of writer David Molesky, who published an interview with him in '' Juxtapoz Magazine''. Pearce described the paintings as "figures emerging from light", and said that he was writing another book "exploring the ideas of kitsch and sentiment" tentatively titled "Never Nothing".


The Secret Paintings

Pearce created a series of large-scale paintings which draw from alchemical symbolism, allegorical imagery and themes from 15th-century emblem books and tarot cards. In June 2017 these paintings, along with Pearce's series ''The Grail Watchers'', began a tour crossing the mainland United States. The Secret Paintings opening reception was held at the Museum of Ventura County 2 June 2017. Holly Moye of Oklahoma City University's Hulsey Gallery said: "The Secret Paintings strike a chord for a new kind of art moving forward from the weary pessimism that has dominated international art for the past century." Art commentator Joseph Bravo said, "He’s reinventing representational art for the 21st century, and he brings as much concept to bear as any post-modern contemporary artist would do..." Ten of Pearce's Secret Paintings are in the collection of the Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles.


Author

Pearce is author of books about art and aesthetics. His ''Kitsch, Propaganda, and the American Avant-Garde'' is a history of the avant-garde, tracking its development as proto-communist propaganda in revolutionary France to its 20th century incarnation as propaganda for American liberal democracy. His ''Art in the Age of Emergence'' "delivers sensible emergent aesthetics, explaining the processes that happen in human minds when we share ideas as works of art, skewering the orthodoxies of contemporary art with pragmatic wisdom about why representational art thrives in the new millennium." In 2019 Pearce began writing articles about the need for a new art criticism that dealt with the issues interesting conservatives in 21st-century representational art, arguing that post-modern culture had eliminated the avant-garde hegemony and created a bubble-bath of multiple art-worlds, each with their own gatekeepers and criticism. In winter 2019 he began writing regularly fo
MutualArt magazine
producing articles about art, focusing mostly on representational painters. He has also written articles for ''American Fine Art'', ''Fine Art Connoisseur'', ''Quillette'', ''American Art Collector'', ''Artists on Art'', ''Combustus'' and ''Postmodern Times''. His piece about the artist Dino Valls is the most read article on the ''Combustus'' website.


Academic life

Pearce is Professor of Figurative Drawing and Painting at
California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California, United States. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It o ...
in Thousand Oaks, California. In 2010, he introduced an atelier-style system to the CLU Art Department, in which each faculty member was provided with their own studio space on campus, welcoming their students to study alongside them as they lead by example in the production of their own work. He served as Chair of the Art Department between 2008 and 2013. Between 2005 and 2016, Pearce was curator of CLU's Kwan Fong Gallery where his programming emphasized the work of representational artists and interdisciplinary exhibits. In December 2014, the California Art Club named Pearce "Man of the Year" and presented him with the William & Julia Bracken Wendt Award for his service to representational art. He is a graduate of
Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...
, 1990, BA (Hons) Theatre; The University of Southern California, 1992 MFA Theatrical Design; and
Plymouth University The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...
, 2008, PhD ''Using Prehistoric British Art and Architecture as a Model for Contemporary Art''.


The Representational Art Conference

By 2012, his enthusiasm for skill-based studio technique led to collaboration with his friend Michael Lynn Adams to organize The Representational Art Conference, which examined the role of representational art in the 21st century, seeking to address a "neglect of critical appreciation of representational art well out of proportion to its quality and significance". The conference was planned as a focused but non-doctrinaire event, of serious academic standards. Pearce described the reason for producing the conference: "Until we did TRAC, there were literally no conferences at all about representational art – which is a strange absence, because there was then and is now a huge amount of representational art, and a very large community of people who are interested in representational art. It seemed like a big gap that needed filling." At TRAC2012 Jed Perl and John Nava were keynote speakers, while major figures in the American Representational Art scene gave presentations and demonstrations, including former USC Dean of Art Ruth Weisberg, artists Tony Pro, David Kassan, Graydon Parrish, Jeremy Lipking, Sadie Valeri, Richard T. Scott,
Alexey Steele Alexey Steele (born 1967 in Kyiv, Soviet Ukraine) is an American painter of the Russian Representational School and a Soviet Art scholar. He moved to Los Angeles in 1990. Steele gained recognition for his unusual multi-figure compositions of an exce ...
, Art Historian Vern Swanson and author Virgil Elliot. In ''Art LTD'' magazine, John Seed described the event as "a 149-year-later 'Salon Des Refuses. Pearce edited the papers from the 2012 conference in a volume published in 2013 as ''The Real Snake: Proceedings of the Representational Art Conference 2012''. By 2014, The Representational Art Conference almost tripled in size and included keynote addresses by
Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...
and Juliette Aristides. The artist
Odd Nerdrum Odd Nerdrum (born 8 April 1944) is a Norwegian Figurative art, figurative painting, painter. A controversial figure in Norway, he is known for his anti-modernist stance. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work reference anecdote and narrative. Primar ...
served on a panel with Roger Scruton to discuss the aesthetics of contemporary representational art. In his ''Huffington Post'' review John Seed said: "...a genuine movement is taking shape". Pearce edited the papers from the 2014 conference in a volume published in 2015 as "Kitsch & Beauty: Proceedings of the Representational Art Conference 2014". Pearce chaired a third installment of The Representational Art Conference which took place November 1–4, 2015 in Ventura, CA. with keynote speeches by Boston Museum of Fine Art curator Elliot Davis, Fred Ross of the Art Renewal Center, neuroscientist
Semir Zeki Semir Zeki FMedSci Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (born 8 November 1940) is a British and French Neuroscientist, neurobiologist who has specialised in studying the primate visual brain and more recently the neural correlates of affective stat ...
and sculptor Richard MacDonald. Artist F. Scott Hess described some his experiences of the event in a Huffington Post article titled "Art That Hurts". Selections of the conference papers, again edited by Pearce, were published as ''As It Is: Proceedings of the Representational Art Conference 2015''. The fourth TRAC was held in 2017 in Miami, Florida, in association with the Figurative Art Convention and Exposition (FACE) organized by Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. It featured addresses by philosopher Stephen Hicks, editor Peter Trippi, and art commentator Joseph Bravo. In 2018, TRAC became an international event, taking place in the World Trade Center, Leeuwarden, Netherlands, Europe's 2018 City of Culture. Hosted by Sir Tom Hageman of the Classical Academy, Pearce was keynote speaker, alongside Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wettering, painter
Odd Nerdrum Odd Nerdrum (born 8 April 1944) is a Norwegian Figurative art, figurative painting, painter. A controversial figure in Norway, he is known for his anti-modernist stance. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work reference anecdote and narrative. Primar ...
, education expert Mandy Theis of the Da Vinci Initiative, and author Corinna Wagner. Plans were laid for TRAC to return to California in 2019. The sixth TRAC was held in Ventura, California, in Spring 2019, under the header "Imagine." Keynote addresses came from: the artist Roger Dean, famed for his paintings and album cover designs, many of which were used in the movie "
Avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...
;" Dr. Corinna Wagner, who had previously spoke at TRAC, spoke again, this time about the imagined body; the Chinese-American painter Z. S. Liang, who paints imagery from the old west, described his work and its place in American art; Tim Jenison spoke about his research into Vermeer. As part of the conference, Pearce organized an exhibit of imaginative realism titled "The Illusionists," featuring paintings and sculptures by
Julie Bell Julie Bell (born October 21, 1958) is an American fine artist, illustrator, photographer, bodybuilder and wildlife painter. Bell is also a fantasy artist and a representative of the heroic fantasy and fantastic realism genres. Bell has won Che ...
, Roger Dean, Kathiucia Dias, Mark Gleason, F. Scott Hess, Regina Jacobson, Guy Kinnear, Brad Kunkle, Bryan Larsen, Richard MacDonald, Mark Poole, Vince Natale,
Boris Vallejo Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-American painter who works in the science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous novels in the science fiction, sword ...
, Pamela Wilson, and Sandra Yagi
A video
was produced placing imaginative realism into its historical context.


Theatrical design

Pearce worked in Southern Californian theatre as a scenic and lighting designer, winning a 1992 Drama-Logue Award for his lighting of Brian Friel's Translations at the Celtic Arts Center, Los Angeles, and an Independent Theatre Award for his set and lighting designs for a Santa Barbara, CA, production of ''Frankenstein'' in 2004. He was a member of Santa Barbara’s experimental Lit Moon Theatre Company, as the company's lighting designer for their award-winning production of ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
''. In 1992, Pearce designed the set for comedian and raconteur Steve Allen’s production of his play ''The Wake'' at the Celtic Arts Center in Hollywood, Los Angeles; ''Los Angeles Times'' reviewer Tim McCulloh said: "Pearce's set and lighting are exemplary, giving the feeling one could walk into the Scanlon apartment and live there." While working on the set for ''The Wake'', he also was busy with the set design for ''Be Bop a Lula'', a rock and roll play about Gene Vincent and
Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran ( ; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in ...
, produced by Adam Ant and
John Densmore John Paul Densmore (born December 1, 1944) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the Rock music, rock band the Doors and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recording made by the band, ...
of
The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
, starring
Donal Logue Donal Francis Logue (born February 27, 1966) is a Canadian-American film and television actor. He played the starring role of Sean Finnerty on the sitcom '' Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005), and Detective Harvey Bullock on the DC Comics adapta ...
.


Portraits

Pearce developed a curious relationship with the aviator
Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...
who appeared as the subject of several alchemical paintings. He believes that Earhart perfectly represents the element of air "as a modern Icarus"Alchemy Journal Volume 10 No. 1. Northern Spring 2009. ISSN 1836-1587 and he has painted her as an angelic character and alchemical queen. In these roles, Earhart acts to transform other characters in Pearce's romantic allegorical narratives. Pearce has painted portraits for artists and musicians including actor Shane Brolly, members of the band Plexi,
Skinny Puppy Skinny Puppy was a Canadian electro-industrial band formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group was among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crom ...
singer Nivek Ogre,
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
and the
No Limit Records No Limit Records is an American record company founded by Master P. The label's albums were distributed by Priority Records, Universal and Koch Records. The label included artists such as Snoop Dogg, Mercedes, Silkk the Shocker, Mystikal ...
rappers
C-Murder Corey Miller (born March 9, 1971), better known by his stage name C-Murder, is an American rapper. He initially gained fame in the mid-1990s as a part of his brother Master P's label No Limit Records, primarily as a member of the label's supergr ...
,
Silkk the Shocker Vyshonn King Miller (born June 18, 1975), better known by his stage name Silkk the Shocker (formerly Silkk), is an American rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. The brother of Master P, Miller signed with his record label No Limit Records, an im ...
and
Master P Percy Robert Miller (born April 29, 1967), better known by his stage name Master P, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, dancer, actor and entrepreneur. He founded the record label No Limit Records in 1991, which was relau ...
. Pearce's portrait of C-Murder was used for the cover of the rapper's platinum-selling '' The Truest Shit I Ever Said''. His portraits of rapper Master P can be seen in an '' MTV Cribs'' episode featuring the No Limit Records owner's home in Baton Rouge.''MTV Cribs, Snoop Dogg, Silkk the Shocker, Master P.'' Episode Number: 5. Season Number: 1. First Aired: Wednesday, 18 October 2000.


Notes and references


External links


Artist's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Michael 1965 births Living people 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters 21st-century English male artists 21st-century English painters Alumni of Dartington College of Arts Alumni of the University of Plymouth Artists from Lincolnshire English male painters