Michael Flohr paints
in a style called urban impressionism. His atmospheric street
scenes are brilliantly composed with bold color applications
and fascinating narrative lines.
It is a rare and celebrated occasion
when an artist is discovered that has a unique talent, fresh
vision and exceptional ability to transcend artistic predisposition.
Painter Michael Flohr is just such an artist. Flohr’s
work is a visual adventure. Not only in its exquisite beauty,
obvious artistic integrity and the emotion elicited in every
work of art, but in the artist’s ability to effect the
invention of a genre unique and true in and of itself in today’s
contemporary art world. Depicting ordinary moments in extraordinary
ways, Flohr’s work is an intellectually artistic mastery
of color, perspective, technique and vision.
Blazing a trail that is sure
to influence the eyes of fine art collectors around the world,
Flohr’s work is also sure to impact other emerging artists
for years to come. Michael Flohr is a young California artist,
currently living and working in San Diego where he was born
and raised. Recognizing his artistic aptitude at a very early
age, Flohr’s parents enrolled him in his first art class
at the age of five. His family’s perpetual encouragement
and conviction in his talents led him to pursue a degree at
the San Francisco Academy of Art College. At the academy, Flohr
was able to experiment with all types of media and artistic
styles. In 1999, Flohr’s propensity for illustration was
recognized by his acceptance into New York’s Society of
Illustrators, where he joined the ranks of legendary predecessors
such as Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish and N.C. Wyeth. He
was awarded the Herman Lambert scholarship by the Society in
the following year. Flohr graduated from the Academy of Art
in 2000 and was honored with “Best of Show” for
his painting titled, “Irish Coffee” at the Academy’s
spring exhibition that same year. Shortly thereafter, three
of Flohr’s paintings were selected for exhibition at the
de Young Museum, San Francisco’s oldest public museum
located in Golden Gate Park. There, his work hung in the company
of other master painters including one of Flohr’s most
revered inspirations, Claude Monet.
Boasting acceptance into a museum
environment so early into his artistic career is a sure indication
that this is an emerging artist to be watched. In a contemporary
art world that has craved a fresh, new approach in the creation
of effectual works of art, Flohr fills this void with his series
of paintings that cover subject matter ranging from nightlife
scenes, cityscapes, still lifes and figurative portraiture.
Flohr’s work is largely urban in content, frantic in execution
yet solemn in interpretation. His paintings have an eerie ability
to capture a fleeting moment, as if from a peripheral vision,
resulting in a permanent “déjà vu”
for the outsider looking in. Bordering the surreal, yet strangely
familiar, Flohr’s images capture what seem to be the artist’s
furious study of a gloriously regular moment in time. A moment
it seems in which many can relate. The artist’s paintings
are a patchwork of avant-garde, impressionistic color exhibiting
a stylistic fortitude that succeeds in redefining impressionism
and abstract expressionism. Static movement is uniquely portrayed
in his work through his brushstroke technique, masterful use
of light and sumptuous, yet somber color.
Flohr states, “There is
a flow that I try to keep in my paintings that evolves into
a story of colors and movement that breathe together. A coronation
of small, square strokes of premeditated color create the rhythm
throughout a piece. Then I combine them with broad brush strokes
that serve to ‘marry’ the elements together. I approach
each canvas with ‘aggressive subtleness’. My goal
as a modern impressionist is to capture a gesture and a mood,
not necessarily every pore on the face of a person depicted
in one of my paintings. I want my figures to be a part of the
painting, not the painting itself. They work together in the
environment creating the movement and emotion in a piece. I
like to show light and how it travels, where it lands and how
it can change color. Light alone can change the look or the
mood of a place.” Ultimately, it is these qualities in
Flohr’s work that predominate in its appeal. Flohr claims
his biggest inspiration in creating his art is everyday life.
He protests, “I have a huge passion to record humanity
on canvas, the good and the bad, it is all beautiful to me.”
He strives to express the familiar in his work and communicate
a common thread among his subjects and his viewers. “I
want to tell a story with substance,” Flohr admits. And
he achieves this with a genius of insight and artistic wherewithal
unique to his work and a man of his young years.
A trip to Europe upon his graduation
from the Academy was influential in his interest in European
culture and proved to be an enlightening experience for the
artist and his work. It was this experience that led him to
pursue the desire to capture the nuances of social interaction,
city nightlife and cityscapes as subject matter for his art.
The artist states, “Seeing strangers intermingle in strange,
new places is an inspiration to me. I am the guy that can be
found out with friends in a café and notice a beautiful,
warm, orange-violet light chipping on peoples’ faces across
the room. I am immediately distracted and thinking of ways to
combine color and capture that moment in my next painting.”
Flohr admits to being inspired
by the all-important and influential works of impressionist
artists throughout history, specifically: Pissaro, Monet, Manet
and Degas. Like these artists, Flohr prefers to work in oils
and comments, “I love oil paint because of its durability
and the richness it brings to the canvas. I also believe that
most people with an appreciation for art respect an artist’s
use of this classic medium.” Flohr does not work with
static models. Instead, he will sketch “in the moment”
as a scene unfolds, most often with charcoal. Many times, his
sketches will become works of art in themselves. On occasion,
the artist will work with candid photographs. Capturing the
visual clues in a scene is imperative to Flohr as he considers
the “overwhelming choices of color” used to create
his interpretation of an image. The artist comments, “Observation
is everything for me. Whether it is seen, heard or read, it
is all connected to that which can be processed into a visual.”
Michael Flohr’s passion for his art parallels his passion
for life. As he strives to be true to himself, his family and
friends, he admits his fiancée, Melissa “is my
biggest, new-found inspiration in a way I cannot describe.”
As he grows as a person and evolves as an artist, enthusiasts
of the arts are sure to enjoy the fruits of his commentaries
on the world around him – and in the end, the one that
surrounds us all.
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Michael
Flohr - BIO