Just after his birthday, Bushwick born and bred artist known for his avant garde Living Installation, Michael Alan is having a new exhibit opening tonight at Gasser Grunert Gallery (33A Orchard Street) at the Lower East Side. The free show will be starting at 6PM and ending at 8PM.
Born at Woodhull in 1977 and raised on Halsey Street, Alan grew up in Bushwick during a time of economic neglect, arson and a staggeringly high murder rate. To escape the chaos, his family left Bushwick in the 80’s for safer spots in neighboring Bedstuy and later in Staten Island, but he has always managed to keep a toe in Bushwick. His mother, also an artist of sorts, was a “street evangelist” in the neighborhood who writes poetry, which has played a large role in his development as an artist. The evangelist influence might explain his incredible work ethic, which has him working “twelve hours a day- no matter what is going on.” Since high school, he estimates having produced somewhere around 7,000 pieces using a number of mediums.
His drawings in particular are elaborate and vibrant, requiring a deft hand and a sense of playfulness. There is also an element of chaos that manages to read incredibly well scripted, especially in the case of his nudes. In explaining his style, he describes his desire to continue the artistic tradition of creating a “visual language,” citing Picasso and Basquiat as experts in that concept. It is important to him that at least parts of his exhibitions are relatable to anybody that experiencing it, and the consistent visual language that he has worked on since 2004 is the fastest way for him to achieve that, “I’m not interested in putting a viewer in a space where they are just completely lost, where they can’t follow along. I find those exhibits do not work.”
