By Paula M. Bodah | Photography courtesy of Bonner David Galleries
There’s an irresistible quality to Michael Carson’s work. His paintings—soft, shadowy and impressionistic, rendered in muted neutral tones that blur the edges between his figures and the backgrounds—do more than simply invite you to look. They make you want to step into them, to eavesdrop on those figures, to get them to tell their stories. “I don’t like to create an obvious narrative,” the Phoenix-based artist says. “What people see is how they feel when they look at a piece.”
Carson, who grew up in Minnesota, didn’t set out to be a painter at all. In fact, during his four years at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, he never made a single painting. “I was a design student,” he says. “I spent my time on computers.”
Seven or so years into his career as a product designer, a stop into a museum in the Netherlands changed his life. “I saw a painting I loved so much, I said, ‘I have to try that’,” he recalls. “When I got home, I bought the cheapest canvas and paints I could find, did one painting, and quit my job maybe 40 days later.”
Feb 2, 2024
