Carrier, Michael

Artist Statement
I’m an Ecological Abstract Assemblage Artist. For twenty years now, I have worked in a mature style. Utilizing my abilities as a sculptor-painter-photographer, I create assemblage/mixed media works that are built from a minimum of 85% post-consumer materials (trash).

My work references such disparate environmental issues as our societies appetite for over consumerism and our planets main ecological challenge, overpopulation. Along with topics concerning reducing-reusing-recycling, cleaning up our environment and diverting trash from our landfills, etc.

My works are created from old/new trash–natural/organic materials and very little new materials, with computer scraps being the common thread that ties all my art together into a cohesive body of work.

I like to work in a lot of different series. Some new, which were started this year, while others I have been working on for a number years. Many of my series have an element of raw beauty and are purely abst
ract in style, with most of my focus entirely on line-shape-texture-color and balance!! Other series are also abstract, but have more of an objective/representational message behind them.

Over the last twenty years with the growth of the personal computer and the internet, I feel the use of computer parts in all my work, best represents mankind’s technological growth and helps to place my works into a historical content.

I’m a true de-constructionist, re-constructionist, my works are all about the process. I draw inspiration from a wide range of sources, including artists such as Wasily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollack, Ansel Adams, Robert Rauschenberg, George Herms and of course the media and the web. I am also truly inspired and awestruck by nature and the ongoing manmade destruction of our planet.

About Michael Craig Carrier
I’m largely a self taught artist. I was born in 1958 in Los Angeles, CA of Anglo/Hispanic parents. My family was a group of highly creative individuals, whose encouragement inspired me to develop my own artistic voice. I grew up in the city of Downey, CA and during my formative years I learned oil painting from my father, a bacteriologist and amateur representational painter. At age 8, my interest in photography began when I was given a brownie camera from my mother. At age 10 I began working in my first darkroom. My grandmother, who was a gift basket designer, taught me the fundamentals of design. For many years I studied woodworking & metalwork with my grandfather, a master machinist for Hamms brewery and amateur inventor.

In my youth I took over a dozen art classes, then at the age of 17 enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. My service to my country included working as an accounting clerk, an administration clerk, as well as a tour of duty on the island of Okinawa. After earning an honorable discharge, I attended Cerritos College for 2 years where I studied art, criminal justice and business. I left college in 1985 to start a successful neon design business (1986-1991). I continued my art studies with neon tube bender Ken Metcalf, then served a 2 year apprenticeship with Jose Ricardo Sanchez, a master neon tube bender from El Salvador, then worked for 3 years as an instructor for the Classic Neon School of Tubebending in the City of Commerce.

Since 1995, I have committed myself to a life-long career as a serious working professional visual artist. I was the Artist in Residence at the Downey Museum of Art in 1995-1996. After completing my residency, I worked as an independent curator for several spaces in Long Beach (1997-1999). During the summer of 1999, I was the Visiting Artist in Residence at the Discovery Museum of Orange County. Over the years, I have taught art workshops and classes at the Downey Museum of Art, Norwalk Cultural Arts Center, Discovery Museum of Orange County and the TGIT Afterschool Enrichment Program in Long Beach.

My work has been exhibited regionally in over 50 group shows as well as numerous solo shows, including my first solo show at the Downey Museum of Art in 1996. My work has earned several awards over the years and is in numerous private collections. From 2001-2006, I was represented by the Don O’Melveny Gallery in Los Angeles and from 2003-2006 was the Assistant Director of the Gallery. In 2006-2007, I worked as the Curator of Exhibitions at the Lake Arrowhead Museum of Art.

I’m currently represented by 5 galleries in California, Arizona and Oregon. I work in my main art studio which is located on our 5 acre farm in Fairview Valley (outside Los Angeles), where I live with my wife, Lisa who owns a production company and studio and all our wonderful animals. I also maintain a studio in Sedona, AZ.

Artist Code: MCC