Sula Costa Daily NYC

Friday, February 12, 2021

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MICHAEL ALAN

Survival Things: Works of a Native New Yorker

February 12th - April 30th 2021

ONLINE VIEWING with ARTNET

Born in 1977 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, USA
Lives and works in Lower East Side, New York City, USA

In a time where America questions power and systems American artist, Michael Alan stands in the forefront, asking the questions that challenge, loudly and boldly, over and over. A painter for the people, he creates works that address racism, corruption, poverty, greed, and control. Michael Alan sees and paints the world his own way, with an alternative vision of the ongoing, overall human feeling. Alan, inspired by his surroundings, growing up and living in NYC, paints the fast paced menacing life of his city. A physically disabled son of an immigrant family, he has seen a lot, been through a lot, and puts it all into the work.

The way he sees and interprets life is unlike other visions in art. The work defies a type or a group or a style. This work leads us into a new ocean that invites us all, looking to redefine who we are as Americans.

Alan works around the clock, creating a visual language and a modern day commentary, trying to understand the absurd world we live in. The artist is attracted to mediums that traditionally don't mix, but collide to create their own worlds. Using a broad range of tools, handmade brushes, his hands and fingers, split tips of pens, and repurposed drawings, he is constantly exploring mark making techniques to make odd lines and marks with obscure color combinations. His work is a mixture of high-end art on fire that is burned down to the ground, waiting for we the people to touch and grab.

He sees his visual works as puzzles that can be broken down and reconstructed by the eye. They are meant to be looked at, and reevaluated over time. Speaking on many popular and unpopular topics, he paints all sorts of people, places, and things, with a range of commentary in his work as a work within itself. He is known for street art activism, punk performance, standing for individuality, equality, positivity, freedom, wackiness and acceptance and questioning and challenging the systems that have all the power and control.

Alan is a strong believer in the constitutional right of freedom of speech, and his work portrays this. Alan is known for his masked performances around NYC, long before Covid-19 and the mask mandate. He created the performance art project The Living Installation. It is a staple icon of the city, which he runs with his wife and partner Jadda Cat. Together they stand for living in the moment, the power of the body as living sculptures, the power of being alive, appreciation of life, and comment on the absurdity we go through as humans.

You can see in Michael’s paintings and drawings that he is inspired by the performances and costumes. The performances inform the drawings and drawings inform the performances. They are worlds inside worlds.

Alan creates like an unbreakable renaissance artist working on a painting with a broken sewing machine, looking through a window filled with war.