Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Los Angeles artist Michael Mancari received his BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1993 and his MFA from Yale University in 1998. He attended the Terra Foundation fellowship residency program and one of his treasured experiences was as a studio assistant to Helen Frankenthaler. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in a variety of public and private collections.

ARTIST STATEMENT 

My work explores themes related to birth, transfiguration and memory. The paintings involve various juxtapositions between painting languages, both representational and abstract language. The paintings are encrusted with fragments of images sewn together. This collage of image is like a reflection of human indulgence, feelings of greed and the gluttony of a consumer society. 

I often think of literature when painting. In particular, for the painting, Desdemona,  I was thinking about Shakespeare’s, Othello and tragic senseless death of Desdemona. In the painting Dayton 9 the loss of life has already occurred.  The butchery of nine people by the infamous murderer.  Too often in our society, killing is glorified and good becomes banal.  The symbolism of the endless horizon within many works is to reference time, the past and innocence lost.