Michael Sharp grew up in West Texas, where he spent all of his academic years focused on visual arts.  During high school  his work began being highly noticed, leading to numerous awards and honors, along with scholarships to the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia, and the Rhode Island School of Design.  However, he chose to stay close to home and earned his BFA in drawing and painting from Texas Tech University, with a secondary emphasis in graphic design.  

 After graduating college, he was hungry for a change of scenery and decided to relocate to Los Angeles, CA.  While there, he spent several years training in performing arts to appease a lifelong curiosity for acting. He has performed in several stage productions and independent films. However, his primary love for the visual arts still remained.  After spending many years in the corporate sector, he began focusing more on his passion for drawing and painting.  His work has been exhibited in several galleries and venues in both Los Angeles and San Diego, CA, in addition to galleries and collections in Santa Fe, NM and Dallas, TX.

After twenty plus years on the West Coast, Michael decided to relocate to the Southeast.  He continues his passion for making art, cultivating and growing as a gallery artist and commercial illustrator.  He's also an art instructor and teaches classes in both drawing and painting, with a specialty in figure drawing.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My art is primarily inspired by objects and  images that  hold importance for me at a personal level, or that I feel speak to a broader societal or cultural significance.  I also like to elevate the everyday or commonplace object and have it seen in a new way.  Some of the themes I am most drawn to are nostalgia, spirituality, and nature.  I present these themes through images and objects of celebration and ritual, iconography, and sentiment to honor where we find meaning and comfort in life, while also indulging in randomness and whimsy to challenge the validity of how we assign meaning and importance to the objects and environment around us.

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I like to work almost exclusively with a black and white palette.  The limited palette keeps the visual format stripped down while letting the subject remain the primary focus.  This limitation also helps me adhere more to my love of drawing over traditional painting.  Though I work primarily with representational imagery, I continue to seek the essence and deeper richness of the subject through expressive strokes and bold mark making.

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