PARIS.- Almine Rech announced the representation of American artist Michael Kagan in Europe, UK, Asia. The gallery will additionally represent Kagan in collaboration with Venus Over Manhattan in the US.
Born in Virginia, Kagan received his MFA from the New York Academy of Art and has since been based in New York City.
Kagan’s bold, large-scale oil paintings delve into the physical and emotional journey of adventurers, namely astronauts and Formula 1 drivers. His paintings merge atmospheric and physical elements with technical details, where aerospatial and engineering components are created and executed skillfully using thick and deliberate brushstrokes. The result is a clear yet captivating depiction of the subject matter.
Michael Kagan's recent exploration of sculptures maintains these atmospheric elements that have become synonymous with his paintings but with the added layer of a third dimension.
This encapsulates a more comprehensive environment. These works range from helmets and astronauts made in bronze, as well as alabaster footprints.
His works can be found in collections worldwide from the US to Japan, such as The Hall Collection and the The Maezawa Collection.
The gallery will feature his work at the upcoming Art Basel Miami Beach and at Almine Rech Shanghai in 2024.
Michael Kagan is a Brooklyn-based artist known for producing oil paintings with large, expressive brush strokes. Kagan explores the physical and emotional journey that accompanies explorers from mountaineers to astronauts. His dramatic paintings depict humans pushing the limits of nature through physical stamina and technology. Michael uses thick, deliberate brush strokes that convey a decisive hand and the power of his subject matter. Kagan believes a painting is perfect “when it can fall apart or it can come back together depending on how you read the image and also how close you are.”
Born in 1980 in Virginia Beach, Michael Kagan received his BA from The George Washington University and MFA from New York Academy of Art, where he also completed a postgraduate fellowship in 2005. Special projects include a commission from The Smithsonian, two apparel collaborations with Pharrell Williams, and album cover artwork for The White Lies album Big TV, which won an Art Vinyl award for Best Art Vinyl in 2013. He recently had a solo exhibition at Virginia MOCA, Virginia Beach, VA, USA (2019/2020).
Kagan’s work is in the collections of the Hall Collection, Reading, VT, USA; Maezawa Collection, Chiba, Japan; Maki Collection, Tokyo, Japan; Gemini Trust Company, New York, NY, USA; Fidelity Investments Corporate Contemporary Art Collection, Boston, MA, USA; Founders Fund, San Francisco, CA, USA; and Jacob & Co., New York, NY, USA among others. He has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide. A recent monograph of his work was released in 2019 by ARTBOOK | DAP.
