Herres
MICHAEL HERRES
Lincoln, Nebraska United States
MICHAEL HERRES Left: Top: June 20th Mixed media on canvas 40 x 30 in. or 102 x 76 cm
“I split my time between Lincoln, Nebraska and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I also maintain a studio. I tend to work in series. I will
Bottom Mixed media on canvas 48 x 30 in. or 122 x 76 cm
and idea or concept, sometimes an image. Then work with it until I think I have exhausted it and at that point I will set them aside and look for something new. The series are loosely based on sets of rules or parameters. After a few new series I’ll go back to the ones
Below Top: Tropism III Oil on canvas 4 0 x 30 in. or 102 x 76 cm
something there to get me going again. I am always experimenting with new materials and methods. Sometimes the idea dictates what materials I will use and other times the materials will dictate the idea. I try to “show” rather than “tell” in my work. It is not narrative, it doesn’t tell a story. It is about experience and can be experienced differently by everyone who encounters it. Over time, the painting can be experienced differently by the individual viewer as well.
Bottom: Tropism VII Oil on canvas 30 x 22 in. or 76 x 56 cm
Size does not matter but scale does. Usually the image or the idea will let me know when the size is wrong. It is the same in literature; ideas that work as haiku poems do not make great epic Russian novels. I see quick sketches in charcoal or ink as haikus, large oils on canvas or linen are the ideas that need a novel to carry them. As the psychologist Carl Rodgers said, “That which is the most personal, is the most universal.” My work is inner driven, I am having a conversation with other artists through my work. I am just as interested in reading the biographies, writings and letters of artists as I am in their work. I want to know what they were thinking when they did the work. I want to get at their ideas and starting points and see where they take me anywhere from 10 to 500 years later. In that sense, all my works are self-portraits of what I am thinking and feeling. My responsibility is not to the audience but to the idea.” 178
Madonna I Bronze 14 in. or 36 cm high
Website: www.michaelherres.com Email: michael@michaelherres.com
179