michael azgour: modern artefact
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2WOMAN WITH BLACK BOOTS | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 43” | 2015
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Splitting his time between Califor-nia and Poland, Michael Azgour is known for mesmerizing abstract figurative paintings that reflect upon fleeting moments within the human condition. His works are expressive and geometric ab-stractions informed by an involved process that combines a strate-gic, realistic technique with pat-tern and repetition and the muse of accidental surprise that comes as a result of consistent studio practice. This causes his figures to seemingly float with one foot firmly planted in the present while the other wafts into the past.
Recently, Azgour has been drawn to explore the ubiquity of photog-raphy in contemporary culture and the changing role this has played on the individual experience. This work speaks about how we interact with images today by referencing features found in the disconnected snapshots and video clips that surround our lives. Paint becomes pixel, blur or distor-tion mirroring the digitally manipulated portraits and albums that populate our social media profiles. Although the disparate visuals and juxtaposed compositions appear random, they are in fact bits of narrative from the artist’s own life and travels. Building on the assumption that a photograph is a suitable representation of a memory, he combines unrelated pictures together in the same composition, challenging the viewer’s interpretation. Through psychological mood and fragmented depictions he asks us What is Real?
Michael’s paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe and are part of dozens of collections. He returns to the San Francisco Bay Area yearly to teach visual art and design courses at Stanford University’s Architecture and Continuing Studies programs and at the San Francisco Art Institute.
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cover: J.W. DESCENDING | detail, full image on page 7
4WALKING MAN | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 67” | 2015
5LONDON 2: REPEAT ENCOUNTER | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 75” | 2015
6KRAKOW: GIRL IN A PARK | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 47” | 2015
7J.W. DESCENDING | Oil on Canvas | 47” x 67” | 2015
8SNAPSHOTS FROM A TRAIN | Oil on Canvas | 47” x 67” | 2015
9LONDON 4: STREET VIEW | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 67” | 2015
10MODERN ARTEFACT: GIRL WITH RED GLOVES | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 83” | 2015
11PLAC NOWY (NEW PLAZA) | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 83” | 2015
12NEW YEAR’S EVE | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 118” | Diptych | 2015
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14MAN SEARCHING | Oil on Canvas | 71” x 47” | 2015
15LONDON 3: MAN WALKING FROM ABOVE | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 75” | 2015
16CHURCH OF THE ROCK, FRAGMENTED | Oil on Canvas | 47” x 59” | 2015
17KRK/SFO | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 83” | 2015
18ETHICS | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 103”| Diptych | 2015
19ETHICS | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 103”| Diptych | 2015
20PLAYGROUND | Oil on Canvas | 47” x 59” | 2015
21BOY AND DOG | Oil on Canvas | 47” x 63” | 2015
22LONDON 1: ENTERING THE LIGHT | Oil on Canvas | 59” x 103” | Diptych | 2015
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SELECTED SOLO & TWO-PERSON SHOWS2015 Hohmann Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA2014 Blue Contemporary, Cambridge, UK2013 Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, CA 2012 Hohmann Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA (catalog)2011 Art Museum of Los Gatos, Los Gatos, CA 2009 William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2008 William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
SELECTED PUBLIC ART PROJECTS Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (to be installed in 2016)Scripps Memorial Hospital, Encinitas, CA (in concept phase) UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CAHearts in San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, six-month public art installation at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2009)
SELECTED COLLECTIONSThan Mór Art Museum, Nyíracsád, HungaryLyon’s Gate Entertainment Corporation, Los Angeles, CAHotel Union Square, San Francisco, CAStanley S. Langendorf Foundation, San Francisco, CA
This biography has been edited. For a comprehensive biography, please contact the gallery.
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PASSERBY | Oil on Canvas | 47” x 41” | 2015
EDUCATION 2012 Stanford University, Continuing Studies, Stanford, CA2005 Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA, M.F.A. in Studio Painting 2001 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, B.A. in Psychology; Minor in Chemistry
ACADEMICsince 2013 Lecturer, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CAsince 2010 Lecturer and Assistant Lecturer, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
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BOOKS00065Michael Azgour $10
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