Michael Krueger

Gallery Affiliations: Steven Zevitas Gallery, Philip Slein Gallery

Region: West

Narrative is a powerful force in our everyday life and I believe we long for an unfolding of the ordinary into the mythic. I am searching for the extraordinary in everyday life and looking at history and landscape, as means to better understand a world that is built on past events and memories. A deep sense of self, hope, melancholy, mystery and a vein of tenderness are qualities that I seek to have in my work.

In recent drawings, prints and animations, I am exploring utopian moments in American history and often cross-referencing different points in time. More specifically, current research looks with fresh eyes to depictions of the American West by 19th Century artists such as Thomas Moran and Alfred Bierstadt, hippie communes such as Drop City, early American colonies and the Arts & Crafts movement. These new artworks create warm but cautious vignettes of escapism and beckon a review of how we as a nation reconcile the fleeting euphoria of attempts at utopia.