Michael Swanson
Michael’s art career began late, urged on by friends & family he took a basic art course.
’I intended to learn how to mix paint and have some fun creating art as a hobby but a chance meeting landed me a job as an illustrator’s assistant at an agency whose art director insisted I should seriously consider art as a career. Looking back at it all I guess it was a wise suggestion because I have since thanked my lucky stars for a talent that allows me a lifestyle many would envy but I do feel a bit guilty at times when most people have real jobs I just mess around with brushes and paint; then I spot a sliver of sunlight hitting some distant spot and I just have to share it with someone.
Michael has been represented by prestigious galleries from California to France, a past member of the Society of Illustrators (Los Angeles), He has won his share of awards. From Winsor & Newton, the world premier art supply manufacturer, to International Artist Magazine features his work has seen a solid following. Realism is my choice of art and I find painting natural landscapes never gets tiring’.
’The Art of Life’ is a statement that I have used in my art business for some time now. With that tagline. I not only mean the art in one’s life but more importantly the Art in how we live our lives. As artists, we define right or wrong instinctively, we are society’s outlaws. We are dangerous because as artists we accept nothing at face value, including our own worth, we question all. It is why dictators and despots banish artists & the intellectuals first because the truth that we seek is universal. Unlike those who are merely aristocrats by birth, or marriage, we are born with our talent, we make it our own even though
we cannot take full credit, for it is a gift.
From early on, most are exposed to how others want us to live, the media constantly sells fantasies, from Barbie Dolls, to Ferrari from Superstars to 649, it is a constant onslaught to our self worth and who we become. Tim Hortons, Harley Davidson & the gratuitous violence that Hollywood constantly sell is not there for you but to enrich themselves. How else can one explain the grotesque size pick up trucks, SUVs and monster homes people aspire to as symbols of their existence, if it is not for the quest to be accepted as a person in the mind of others.
As artists we rise above these thousand and one things mentioned above including nationality, religion, gender & colour but we are not perfect because it is also true that anyone who lives with a dedicated artist knows that they can never truly be a wife or husband. They will always be the mistress or at best the muse to the act of creating art. The approach to life is the realm of one’s imagination and the happenings in your life depend on the quality of those thoughts so educate yourself in the Art of Living, life is short, live & paint as if it has to last forever……..!
Creations Art Gallery & Framing Studio
436 Wilson St. E., Ancaster, ON., Canada L9G 2C3
Phone: 905 648-6199 www.Creations-Gallery.com
