artiste d'mon >>> michael golub

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About myself, I am primarily a painter although I have experimented with sculpture and installations. I have been painting for about 17 years, I am self taught as an artist. Ii am a lawyer, I have no academic training in art.

My most recent paintings I would classify as "free art". They are about color, and energy, and life. I am heavily influenced by music when I paint, particularly free jazz such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane, which I sort of see as a musical parallel of my painting.

Very few of my paintings are planned. My style is improvisational, based what I feel and tap into at the time. I consider my painting to be a refreshing leap into pure freedom and pure potentiality.

Most of all I want my work to be seen and experienced. I want to take people out into a different magical reality. You can look alot of my stuff at www.blueearthsociety.com

Leap into the Void
Interview by: Silverio Pantalla

Who is Michael Golub?
Can't we start with an easier one? Actually that's something that I'm still trying to figure out. I think that there are different permutations of "Michael Golub."(As is the case with all of us)

There is a part that goes out and functions in society and feeds that entity, and then at the same time it seems that "I"(whatever that is?) can observe my different entities from a detached point, and then there is this universal part that feels like it is both an individual and part of the whole world.

The Rastas call this simply "I and I", meaning both individual and God self which really can't be separated. I really tend to confuse myself (whoever that is?) with all of this stuff, I thinks it's better that I focus on art as opposed to myself really. I try to go beyond myself with my art.

What is "Leap into the void"?
This is the name for a body of work started a couple years ago. The name was taken from a performance/photo piece by Yves Klein where he jumps out of a building and seems to be flying.

It really describes the place where I get my art from, "the void". Its about going beyond this world, beyond nature and our senses, beyond politics and religion and ideology, into the universal, into the "void" of pure nothing. It's about magic creating out of "nothing." I also think of it in terms of what musicians call "going out there", which is a venturing beyond known form structure and rhythm, leaping without a net into the void.

Describe your technique.
On a technical level I use a variety of techniques, ie, painting, splattering, drawing, transfers, fingers, hands, brushes, sponges, squeegees, etc.

I also use a number of different medium, oil, acrylic, oil bars, sumi ink, pencils, charcoal, etc.., I really don't know what I want before I paint, I don't do much planning. I simply start to paint, and the creation occurs in the process, the ritual of painting.

What is art to you?
Art is the one thing that takes us into the divine, Creation is the celebration and praise of the creator, it is the magical act. Everything really is Art on some level.

If you could have just one wish; what could it be?
I don't believe in wishes, I believe in desires and intents and I have many. A wish is really like a desire for something without the knowledge of its possibility.

I think that all desires are certainly possible in some manner. It's a matter of trying until we figure out the mechanics of getting what we want.

If you could meet anyone living or dead; who would that be and why?
That's a hard question because I have no way of knowing what anyone is like until after I meet them. If you mean someone who is "famous" I still can't tell you because all that we see through the media is a created fiction of what they are like.

If you had to live in one room for your entire life, what would it look like?
Extremely large and well furnished with lots of room to paint and exercise, and to hang paintings.

What is your most important goal in life?
I have several goals and they change all the time. The most important one is to be happy, whatever it takes, this I think is everyone's goal.

We just all have different definitions of what that means. My definitions are still evolving.

How was your most recent show?
Actually I am in 2 group shows going on right now, One in the Warehouse Gallery on Church Street (Orlando, FL), and the other in The Lofts at the Winter Park Village (Winter Park, FL). Both spaces are great. Nice and big so the art is not crowded my art does not like to be crowded. Lots of exposure, People are going "wow!"

Who have been some of your main influences as an artist and as a person?
I have lots of those and they change over time. I have been influenced by everything I've seen, and everything I've met. Painters, I'd say DeKooning, Mitchell, Hoffman, Basquait, Stella, Dubuffett, Soutine, Bacon, Yves Klein, Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter.

Also I am influenced heavily by music particularly free jazz like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, these guys I see as the parallel of abstract expression which was big around that same time.

Basically it's all about freedom and improvisation which is necessary to take us into the next level.

When did you realized that art was your way of life?
I realize now that I have always been and artist. I think about 20 years ago I just decided that I was an artist. It was like a light bulb going on I guess. I suppose it's my version of being "saved."

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
I don't know. I've stopped trying to predict those things. A good place though!

*Michael Golub's work will be on display at The Lofts in Winter Park. The show will run from through July. For more information click on his banner atop of the page.