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Michael Gute

What It Means to Travel VII | 36″ x 48″ | Oil and spray paint on canvas | 2021


Artist Statement

My work is generally about two things, (a) exploring our internal dimensions, and (b) mark-making as evidence of the body. I approach painting expressively to make theatrical and dreamlike pictures that often dissolve and merge. With almost no modern references, my paintings move through time like memories. I think about change and time a lot.
We are always changing and transitioning from one state of being or understanding into another. My paintings are expressions from these “in between” spaces. I often demonstrate the passing of time with gestural abstraction. I use figures to build casts of players which are often engrossed in dramatic and fleeting scenes inspired by art history.
I use painting, drawing, and scratching veiled over one another to build an accumulation of experience and memory. Aware of my intuition, I appreciate how the body and mind work in a choreography to mark the surface.

Artist Website + Social Media:
https://www.guteworks.com/
Instagram @mngute

MR/QD Is Made Possible BY

Artists stipends made possible by Kresge Arts in Detroit

For details and more info on making a contribution to Mighty Real/Queer Detroit, please contact us at info@mrqd.org

About MR/QD

Mighty Real/Queer Detroit is an art exhibition in June 2022 devoted to 77 years (1945-2022) of Detroit LGBTQ+ art 

The exhibition presents a month-long historical examination of the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community and its longtime allies, featuring established & emerging Detroit artists, as well as artists whose careers were shortened by HIV/AIDS.

Mighty Real/Queer Detroit is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to promoting positive and meaningful images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community through artistic and intellectual means. © 2023. All Rights Reserved.