Michael Stasinos: Capturing the Ineffable

Michael Stasinos (Seattle) seems to capture quick moments in time. But Stasinos’ plein air (“open air” or “outdoors”) painting process can take weeks, months, or even years to complete one scene. He paints directly on location, as opposed to using photographs for reference. Natural light, weather, colors, and surrounding activities change in the moment, by the minute—or certainly by the following week.

Stasinos was born in Canoga Park (Los Angeles), California. He attended Southern Utah University, where he studied both theater and fine art. “I began my university education by studying to become an actor,” he says. “However, exposure to the visual arts diverted my interest into new creative possibilities. The years I spent developing back-stories for my characters as an actor, or dressing sets to enhance the story as a director, had an influence on the type of artist I would become. I discovered early on that I was interested in representational and figurative art.”

He decided to pursue an MFA at the New York Academy of Art, a program dedicated to exploring contemporary figurative ideas in art, with respect to its history and past techniques. 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.”

He has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions in Seattle, first at Martin-Zambito Fine Art, and then at Woodside Braseth Gallery beginning in 2007.

While pursuing his passion for 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. Michael is now focusing on his painting while also developing new coursework.

“The freeway in a Stasinos painting is like the Grand Canal in Canaletto’s Venice, an omnipresent force of nature.” – Cornichon.org

For more information visit woodsidebrasethgallery.com or michaelstasinos.com