Hazmat Beach, Oil on Panel, 2” X 12”, 2024
Modes of Music 2 – Man’s Fire,
Silkscreen, Acrylic and Oil on Panel, 24” X 16”, 2024
Odysseus’s Landing, Acrylic and Ink on Panel, 48” X 24”, 2024
The Crossing, Charcoal on Paper, 30” X 22”, 2024
Circe’s Exile, Acrylic and Ink on Panel, 48” X 24”, 2024
The Buck (an Omen on the Riverbank),
Acrylic and Oil on Panel, 24” X 16”, 2024
ALARA (as Low as Reasonably Achievable),
Acrylic and Oil on Panel, 12” X 16”, 2024
Crocs at Turkey Point (We Will Survive This Too),
Ink and Acrylic on Panel, 16” X 12”, 2024
Ibis at Turkey Point (First in and the Last Out),
Ink and Acrylic on Panel, 16” X 12”, 2024
Modes of Music 1 – Wavelengths,
Acrylic and Oil on Panel, 24” X 16”, 2024
Promethean Cycle, Acrylic on Canvas, 54” X 43” (approximate), 2024
Currents is a collection of works loosely following the Michael Gray’s family history while referencing natural disasters, allegorical mythologies, and natural systems set in the surreal landscape of Florida. The Gray draws upon myth, human history, augury, and salvaged photographs to attempt to reconstruct a complex pastiche identity that crosses naturalist, outsider, father, son, Miamian, and swamp-dweller.
The paintings in this exhibition are intended to follow a mythical river through deep forests, dense mangrove shorelines, power plants, and finally, into the ocean. Along the river, memories and events are strewn about, representing spectral visions slowly fading in and out of abstraction. The imagery was developed from personal moments from the Gray’s life which include photographs of hurricane wreckage, portraits of family members, and photographs of wildlife from South Florida. The river, in its steady and slow-flowing motion, represents life, taking the viewer from moment to moment, expressing ideas of loss, paternal affection, fear, filial love, and survival.
Some images rely on mythological analogy to express layered narratives of the characters existing in the artwork. From the shipwreck of Odysseus to the crossing of the river Styx, to the story of Prometheus, these stories are taken and morphed with personal narratives to elevate the meaning of these moments for the viewer and help express their importance to the artist.
The animals exist as symbolic representations of the characters in the narratives and the environments in which they take place. The Ibis is a bird notorious for being the first to return after a hurricane. The crocodilian is a pure cold-blooded survivor 95 million years in the making. These animal images can also be understood as the observations of a modern Augur (of sorts), seeking to interpret the will of the Gods based on the actions of birds and animals as omens; auspicious or inauspicious.
The ceramics in the exhibition are visually linked to the augur and animal works. Ceramics are one of the few links used to connect us to ancient human history. In early ceramic works and early artwork in general, humans made representations of the animals they hunted, worshipped, and interacted with in their lives. These ceramic works function no differently than those of hunter-gatherers from the Paleolithic Period. These works also function as markers of being; claiming a time and place in the lineage of human history. While crafting and refining simple forms, the artist seeks to connect his work to an ancient lineage of craft and art-making that lies at the core of what it means to be human.