rtist Michael Reedy (born in Galesburg, Illinois) have been focalizing on portraiture for the last twelve years. About his recent works, mixing influences both from within and outside of accepted boundaries of fine art in order to extend beyond historical modes of representation and transcend academic mannerisms that dominated his earlier efforts as a visual artist, he says: The first two works completed in this series were malum A and malum E. Prior to these two drawings I had been adopting cartooning and medical illustration into my studio practice in order to explore what I believed to be the varying degrees of comprehension associated with each image type. I was also interested in the degree of resistance each image type would have when placed in the context of the other, and finally, within the context of a traditional portrait or figurative work. (…) However (…) malum A and malum E shifted out from the framework which governed my previous efforts, and in doing so, became something very different. (…) As a result, the cartoon elements were given free reign to become whatever they wanted to be, and in this instance could be best described as the manifestation of nightmares or dreams. In this more open context, the references to medical illustration have begun to shift from the real to the fictional. (…) Everything was allowed to shift more and more in an attempt to balance and resolve each particular image. As a result, the role of the doodles and anatomy references seem to slip and slide from one image to the next and defy any easy or simple categorization.
Michael Reedy is currently an Assistant Professor in Drawing at Eastern Michigan University. He received his MFA in painting from Northern Illinois University in 2000 and his BA from North Central College in 1996. His work has been included in over 80 national and international exhibitions and can be viewed in numerous private and institutional collections, including Minot State University, Clatsop Community College, Shippensburg University, and the Hoffman Trust National Collection in association with the San Diego Art Institute.
http://www.mikereedy.com/
