By David Nance
Artist Michael Gorman was hosted by the Evan Lurie Gallery at 30 W Main St. in Carmel earlier this month. Current sat down with Gorman for an interview during his visit.
Q: Tell us about your background.
A: I suppose I’ve never really been far away from art. My mom is a great painter, so I was always around art. I went off to the military for four years right after high school, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. After I got out of the military I wanted to do architecture, went to college at the University of Kansas, and then moved over to industrial art and design.
Q: What led you to your career in painting”
A: When I took a painting class, and that was it, I knew. My professor said that I should seriously consider making painting my major, so I did, and I ended up going to Berkley to get my master’s degree. I really never thought I would use my degree, but I did.
Q: What led to partnering with the Evan Lurie Gallery?
A: I met Evan Lurie and his brothers back in 1994, and I gave him some paintings I had left over from college, and they sold them all in a week. That was it. I got a call a few days after and they asked if I could make a few more of these paintings right away, and offered me a studio, a car, and the money I needed to work. They set me up with everything I needed, and I’ve been working with them ever since. I think they’ve sold a couple thousand pieces of mine over the past 21 years.
Q: What mediums do you work with?
A: I use pretty much everything as my medium. I use alcohol-based, oil-based, and acrylic all together. Whatever you’re not supposed to do, like mix oil and water, that’s the first thing I do. I find that I get a lot more interesting effects with that kind of conflict going on between the materials.
Q: How has your work evolved over the years?
A: Over the years, my style has evolved a lot. My style reverberates, and goes back and forth between lots of things. I paint in many genres, including cowboys, pop art, collage pieces or fond objects. Any excuse to make a painting. I’ll never run out reasons to make paintings. It’s impossible.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Right now I’m working on different works. There’s a painting of a blue bull, another with the Statue of Liberty, and more with some gunslingers and ballerinas. I have this thing going with cowboys and ballerinas, a contrast that I’m working on.
For more information about Evan Lurie Gallery, visit evanluriegallery.com or call at 844-8400.
