Michael Mapes
1966 - painted first documented portrait (family) on non-archival paper
1969 - first family vacation - watching jets take off and land at St. Louis airport
1979 - decided not to attend Rhode Island School of Design
1984 - BFA from the University of Illinois
1984 to 1986 - worked in the Chicago design firm Mobium with Ralph Eckerstrom, former design director for Container Corporation and founder of Unimark International
1986 to 1989 - worked in the NYC design firm Bonnell Design Associates with such clients as Knoll, Herman Miller, Michael Graves Architect, Williwear Willi Smith
1989 to 1990 - contemplated in Boston, Chapel Hill and then Urbana, IL
1990 - formed the product development company MINC, created and produced products for direct mail, retail and museum stores. sold several hundred thousand shirts and enjoyed the rewards of a profitable, small, creative based business while it lasted
1991-1992 - MFA from the University of Illinois, chose not to pursue a career in teaching
2003 - produced a series of five minute talk shows called The Corn Mo Show featuring Corn Mo, a NYC club darling, as whimsical host to a variety of national performers.
2005 - began making art
2008 - 2009 - produced and edited a feature film, "Welcome to Tolono"
solo exhibits
Richland College, Decatur, IL
FlexSpace, Urbana, IL
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
2010 - sold house and moved (not necessarily related to exhibits), lived in various places before moving to Croton Falls, NY
2011
exhibits -
Terrible Twos - Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ
Outsiders & Objects - Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ
2012
exhibits and art fairs-
We Find Our Way- Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ
Scope, Miami, FL
2013
exhibits and art fairs-
Raw Art, Rotterdam NL
Scope, NYC
KunstRAI, Amsterdam NL
solo show, Schoolhouse Gallery, North Salem, NY
group show, Victorious (curated by Kevin Havelton, Aureus Contemporary), Chelsea NYC
born: 1962
height: 6'1"
weight: 187
hair color: brown
eye color: brown
right handed
near sighted (w/ corrected vision)
no visible scars
[PROFILE]
Masks the artistic with a scientific veneer by referencing entomological and forensic science. Subjects vary, but works extensively with humans. Utilizes actual scientific materials such as insect pins, gelatin capsules, test tubes, specimen bags, magnifying boxes, surgical thread.
Known to spend copious hours on a single subject, incorporating thousands of individual specimens.
witness (1) writes, “The boxes exist in an uncanny area between photography and sculpture, functioning both as portraits and as fascinating scientific canvases that make you question the logic behind the organization of each piece”.
[human specimens]: Known to have drawn, painted and photographed humans in the past. Identifies subjects through personal and willing interest. Also known to work by commission.
Often takes hundreds of photographs and gathers relevant personal information. Additionally, collects “biographical DNA” such as hair, food samples, fabric swatches, makeup, handwriting samples, fingerprints and personal ephemera. Painstakingly dissects the photos then reconstructs original subject, incorporating bio DNA to create unique interpretation.
Witness (2) writes, “idiosyncratic attention to detail is rendered in a painterly fashion, conveying a sort of quietly contained chaos”.
Has a history working with subjects other than humans.
[time specimens] (wall 3): contain elements from appointment books dating back to 1986. Compositions apparently changed numerous times over a period of nearly a year. Thought to have been an emotionally demanding psychological and spiritual process. Says M - “an exercise in contemplating my accountability to time and materials /deconstructing personal history rather than destroying it /creating a present with a more meaningful connection to the past”.
