The Art And Alchemy Of Michelle Gagliano
Don’t we All need Art?
I first heard of the artist, Michelle Gagliano, from her filmmaker son, Dave Brown, and his brother Chris, a 3D Artist. Clearly a family with the creative streak. Michelle’s work is exhibited widely, including at her recent Artist Residency at Angela King Gallery in New Orleans, and her exhibition in a group show at Laura Rathe Fine Art in Dallas.
Her paintings explore alchemy with layered oil glazes and stains, built up over many weeks in the studio, and I find them compelling and mysterious, with veiled layers of both paint and meaning. There is some of the ineffable beauty of Turner, with a feeling for landscape and nature, that leads one’s thoughts into a timeless place. Balm for the soul.
I was interested to learn more of her process as an artist and successful woman in the intricate art arena..
Michelle, what prompted you to become an artist?
Early on, around five years of age others recognized that I had a steady hand and could simply draw, write, paint and do crafts at a more advanced level, but I was also a child who was often very sick, so I spent a lot of time in bed drawing, coloring and creating. I made a lot of sample artwork and posters for the teachers!
How did your early environment influence you?
My surroundings were really, really beautiful. We had a small farm, surrounded by my grandfather’s much larger tract of land in western New York, high on a hill. Every morning at breakfast we would watch the sun rise from the rolling hills and light up the valley below, an amazing way to start the day: even as a child I appreciated that aesthetic.
He always told me to live someplace beautiful, and now I crave beautiful surroundings.
I crave beautiful surroundings.
Do you think people are born with artistic ability, or can it be taught?
I think both. Some are just born with a native ability; it is a matter of taking it to the next level. I align with Dante’s idiom that if God gives you a talent it is a sin not to develop it. It drives me crazy when parents still encourage their children to not pursue art because it is not viable. It is very viable, period. It is like anything in life, you have to simply work hard to achieve what you want.
Drawing and painting should be taught to all: it’s an important visual skill, that transcends to so many facets in life- it is visual observation and translation. Harvard is finally teaching art appreciation to medical students for the simple reason that diagnosing a patient is about really looking, visually seeing the patient, not just the chart.
Which other artists inspire you?
The contemporary artists that inspire me currently are Ai Weiwei and Anish Kapoor, who I think are both at the pinnacle of navigating life as an artist, they just get it. They have clear, strong voices and visions, integrating craftsmanship and beauty to get their point across. They impact life. To me Ai Weiwei is like a modern day Michelangelo,
Turner is another of my favorite artists, his paintings create all that activity of bold movement, in an ocean of darkness and then interplayed with his hope of light, it is pure opera! His paintings transcend to the viewer such a spiritual experience. He elevates us beyond the physical presence of his paintings to experience such a force of timeless beauty.
Art elevates us to experience such a force of timeless beauty.
What does beauty mean to you?
When you can become both speechless and present in that moment…that’s beauty.
All artists speak of those moments that happen every now and then in the studio when you work and work, forgetting time and hunger, and then you step back and think, did I create that? That’s when the spiritual moment enters, you simply know something larger than yourself is at play.
You simply know something larger than yourself is at play.
For centuries, people have debated whether women could become great artists, or even be artists. How does being a woman inform your work?
I think there has always been a struggle being a female artist, which is why 16th Century artist Artemisia Gentileschi is such a rock star! As a female artist, in her time, to achieve what she did is astounding,. I seek her out in every museum I visit, and the power, composition and control in every aspect of her work make it jump off the walls. Her paintings breathe emotion!
I’ve been painting long enough, to have been told in college do not sign your artwork in any way that would reveal your gender, and you really have to make a choice between family or an art career. Luckily, I managed to navigate both!
Things are changing though: the photographer and artist, Cindy Sherman, has just made some breakthroughs with her auction prices. Also there are many more women artists finding their voices and more female gallery owners. Yet, essentially, it’s all about the quality of the art.
Essentially, it’s all about the quality of the art.
Suspended by Michelle Gagliano
Walk me through your day.
I have a 6 year old in addition to my college boys, so I organize my days around his schedule. Crazy!
I usually get up and go to the studio and check to see and touch my paintings from the day before: a tactile thing, so I can think what I need to work on that day.
After taking Will to school, I go for a run and before heading to the studio, my ritual is to put the house in order and take care of all paperwork. It keeps my head clear to focus on the work, not the laundry and taxes!
I get to the studio by 10AM and divide my day into morning sketching, then glazing.. I apply several thin layers of paint to build up the backgrounds to the paintings, this is the time consuming part of my process, sometimes it takes several weeks to build up the surface. After lunch I paint until six. Evenings, after supper, I love to look through books on artists; lately my son and I are sketching like Turner. Weekends, I will do the big jobs in the studio, building panels, guessing, preparing them and such, and get outside as much as I can walking and hiking for inspiration.
How do you see the role of the artist in the digital age? Can Art survive?
I think the digital world is a great new way of expression, adding another layer to the whole art experience, another tool in our toolbox, but it needs balance. It shouldn’t be our only expression!
Whether it be viewing a non-digital painting, sculpture, or sunrise, Art provides us all with a much needed pause in life, a quiet spiritual moment, to think of something beyond the constant noise of ourselves. Don’t we all need that?
So really, Art will ALWAYS survive.
