Artist's Summary
Michael Joyce, a self taught artist, began painting in his early twenties. His first painting was a Manhattan wall mural in a geometric abstract style. He continued painting on canvas a series of "grid" paintings, multiple squares with circles within. His later landscape paintings featured triangles and squares.

Joyce's transition from abstract to figurative work began with a series he called, the "Unflappable People," kimono shapes in an abstract landscape. Eventually heads were added to these shapes. It was from this point on that he began his interest in the human form. His first figurative paintings were monochromatic, keeping the palette simple but not the subject matter.

Interested in the psychological relationships between people, Joyce's surreal situations asks more questions of the viewer than it answers. The tension is heightened by the addition of nudes, which combined with real life events creates dream-like scenarios. Strong use of color, an important element in his earlier abstract work, eventually returns to his paintings. In his most recent series, text has been added. This new layer confirms Joyce's humor and observations, both seductive and cynical.

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