Artist Talk: Michael Stasinos
Michael Stasinos’ extremely detailed urban landscapes pursue the culture and “anthropology” of a place. What isn’t seen at first comes to life as one gets closer to the canvas and discovers a new world. Capturing a moment in time through observation and meditation, Michael is a visual archeologist, digging up clues in the minutia of detail and debris that he observes and documents while painting on location. With an introduction by Chief Curator Greg Robinson, Michael will speak about his current work and process in conversation with BIMA’s Education & Community Engagement lead, Jenna d’Anna, with audience Q&A. All guests are welcome to attend the Summer Exhibition Artists reception and party to follow!
ARTIST BIO
A native of Canoga Park, California, Michael Stasinos is a longtime resident of Seattle. He received an MFA from the New York Academy of Art, a program dedicated to exploring contemporary figurative ideas in art, paying respect to its history and past techniques. Michael’s mentors and instructors at the Academy included many well-known figurative/representational painters, such as Alfred Leslie, Eric Fischl, Vincent Desiderio, and Martha Erlebacher. After earning his MFA, he found it financially challenging to pay back his student loans while also hiring models necessary for his figurative work. His solution was to make the city his studio. “The sidewalks became my studio and the city my new model,” he writes. “I consider every landscape a portrait, and just like a quality portrait, I want to capture a likeness and display the personality of my subject.”
His exhibition history includes many solo and group exhibitions at two of the top galleries in the region, first at Martin-Zambito Gallery, and then beginning in 2007, at Woodside-Braseth Gallery, both in Seattle. Both galleries not only develop and mentor new artists, but are also caretakers and researchers of Northwest masters. While pursuing his passion for his painting, Michael has always been a teaching artist, having been an instructor of Art & Design at Pacific Lutheran University and Eastern Illinois University. He also taught briefly at Cornish College of Arts, and landscape and figurative painting at Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. Michael is now focusing on his painting, while also developing new coursework.