Michael Angelo Gagliardi

Artist Statement

Michael Angelo Gagliardi
Artist Statement
MA9001@AOL.com/ www.ArtFlowsLikeWater.com /773-531-4993
"Art flows like water but burns like fire with passion"
My artwork tells stories that revolve around a character or characters in conflict within an environment rich with symbolic imagery and motif. For me, the nature of the story determines the medium, because different stories require different techniques. I work in both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional media, using oil and acrylic paints, colored pencil, and crayons, as well as steel, cement, and stone.
When I see a found object such as an old piece of steel that has been tossed away, I don't see trash, I see the possibility of what it may become, what its story is and will be. In my studio I study the piece and over the course of time (sometimes years) I look at the piece and dream. I start to see images in my mind of what it will be. Sometimes, I must acquire several parts before the whole starts to formulate in my mind. Then I begin to draw the artwork in a sketch book. The possibilities solidify. The line between the concept and the design converges into the spark. The epiphany occurs, a moment of clarity in which my mind sees the completed piece. I work out any technical aspects of the sculpture as I lay out the design. The work goes quickly; the character is now real to me. As I sculpt and paint, I tell the story saying it or singing it out loud. The title and the artwork finish often at the same time as I visually create the story, I write the story out in chalk, on the wall or workbench. Out of these words the title emerges, a small slice of the story.
When I work with clay and steel, I am using techniques and methods whose beginnings are lost in history. By using these methods, I am searching for the spirit not only of the first sculptors but the spirit that resides within the material. Water and fire, love and hate, pain and joy, life and death, loneliness, and contentment--all these juxtapositions can be found within the characters and environments of these visual stories. My art requires a high degree of physical action. My mental image becomes real because I fight and dance with the material. The physical nature of my work requires me to use all my emotions, love, hate, anger, pity, and my pain. These are instilled into the works; I pour all that I am into them. It is this dance of creation that brings life to my art and the stories it tells.

Biography

Michael Angelo Gagliardi
Biography
MA9001@aol.com / ArtFlowsLikeWater.com


Michael Angelo Gagliardi was born and raised in New York Cit. In 1985 Michael Angelo graduated from C. W. Post College of Long Island University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and sculpture and a Master of Art in Theatrical Design. Although he was heavily influenced by the Neo-Expressionist style, Michael Angelo has spent his early career pursuing the creation of art in an impressive range of techniques, styles, and forms. During the same time, Michael Angelo began working as a professional scenic artist and stage craftsperson with off Broadway productions. In 1989, he moved to Chicago, where he continued working at scenic studios and moved more into stage craft working as a carpenter, rigger and later, automation. Michael Angelo started touring the country with Broadway musicals in 1996, starting with Showboat. He spent nearly 30 years touring with the productions Titanic, Peter Pan, The Lion King, The Color Purple to name a few. Michael Angelo last toured with Disney's Mary Poppins. Determined to continue making art along the way, Michael Angelo created a unique mobile art studio which he set up in every hotel room allowing him to create a vast amount of works on paper.


After as successful professional theatre career, in 2009, while working on the Tour of the Broadway Musical "Mary Poppins" he had a work-related accident which resulted in a permanent spine injury. August 2013 he was classified as disabled and retired. Since 2009, Michael Angelo continues to live in constant pain, but he remains dedicated to doing physical therapy, which makes life bearable. He considers himself lucky that he is still able to make his art even though the pain makes it difficult.
Since 2014, Michael Angelo has lived on his tree farm in High Springs, Florida with his wife. Michael Angelo has shown throughout his career in Galleries and Museums in NYC, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, Tampa, Miami as well as other cities.
Throughout his life, Michael Angelo has had varied interests which include working as a Pop-up gallery curator, Stagehand/Scenic artist for Broadway Shows/tours, Studio Mechanic for major films, Union organizer, Theatrical and film prop maker/designer, Scenic Shop owner. He is a Certified Cave/Wreck/Technical Scuba Diver, Water conservationist, Forestry steward, Underwater cave restorations expert, Additionally, he served as expedition artist on Great Lake Shipwreck documentations, 2002 USS Monitor Turret recovery, Underwater cave explorations, Fauna surveys and lecturer, fabricator for scientific studies. All these exposures have assisted him in creating his art.

Exhibition History (CV)