Michael Dwyer
Michael Dwyer earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1985 from Syracuse University and his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1993 from the University of South Carolina. At both schools his area of study was Studio Arts, with a concentration in painting.
Dwyer has lived in Syracuse, NY; Providence, RI; and since 1990, Columbia, SC, where he works as Exhibition Designer and Preparator at the Columbia Museum of Art.
His work has been exhibited in Syracuse, Providence, and various cities in South Carolina. Most recently, Dwyer's paintings comprised the solo exhibition "A Phonic Swath: Paintings by Michael Dwyer" at the Etherredge Center for Fine and Performing Art, University of South Carolina Aiken.
Artist's Statement:
I come from parents who are both artists. While my mother mostly set aside art production when they began a family, my father has been a painter throughout my life. Many of their friends, colleagues at Syracuse University, were artists, architects, or writers and our home was always a place with big, modern paintings on the walls and jazz on the record player.
As a kid, I loved visiting my dad's studio. I liked the spattered dishevelment, the smell of paint, and the paintings that I couldn't fully understand, but instinctively got, in the process of coming to life. I knew at an early age that this was something I wanted to pursue.
My decision to work abstractly is visceral and intuitive. It also stems from a belief that in any visual art, there are abstract elements which must function well for the work to succeed. It's these formal elements to which I've always responded most strongly. They make my pulse race.
For a long time I've felt a powerful connection between the way I see painting and the way I hear music. When working, I often feel I'm making arrangements of units in pictorial space (with shape, color, direction, etc.) that are analogous to musical arrangements of notes in time.
Dwyer has lived in Syracuse, NY; Providence, RI; and since 1990, Columbia, SC, where he works as Exhibition Designer and Preparator at the Columbia Museum of Art.
His work has been exhibited in Syracuse, Providence, and various cities in South Carolina. Most recently, Dwyer's paintings comprised the solo exhibition "A Phonic Swath: Paintings by Michael Dwyer" at the Etherredge Center for Fine and Performing Art, University of South Carolina Aiken.
Artist's Statement:
I come from parents who are both artists. While my mother mostly set aside art production when they began a family, my father has been a painter throughout my life. Many of their friends, colleagues at Syracuse University, were artists, architects, or writers and our home was always a place with big, modern paintings on the walls and jazz on the record player.
As a kid, I loved visiting my dad's studio. I liked the spattered dishevelment, the smell of paint, and the paintings that I couldn't fully understand, but instinctively got, in the process of coming to life. I knew at an early age that this was something I wanted to pursue.
My decision to work abstractly is visceral and intuitive. It also stems from a belief that in any visual art, there are abstract elements which must function well for the work to succeed. It's these formal elements to which I've always responded most strongly. They make my pulse race.
For a long time I've felt a powerful connection between the way I see painting and the way I hear music. When working, I often feel I'm making arrangements of units in pictorial space (with shape, color, direction, etc.) that are analogous to musical arrangements of notes in time.