Artist Analysis - Michael Cina

Michael Cina is an artists,painter and graphic designer, currently based in Minneapolis, USA. He is known for creating work that is innovative and somewhat unconventional. In 2000's Michael Cina became a co-finder of WeWorkForThem design studio and in 2010 he opened his own design studio called Cina Associates. He creates both painting and collages, and in all of his work he uses a wide variety of various media such as : pigment, ink, acrylic paint, boards, paper, canvas, water colour, graphite, serigraph, tempera etc. 

What I found unusual about his work, is the way it's expressive, free flowing, with no particular clear lines, quite unclear with no specific subject. Yet when observed with more effort, the viewer is able to see something in his work, some sort of subject with the help of imagination, and it may be different for each individual.
The majority of his work is very bold and bright, very lively and energetic, however in a way still modest and not overdone. His work expresses shapes, forms and even mood.
When talking about his own work Cina has said "Observation is very important to me. I don’t see myself having much to do with fantasy, but I do have a fascination for the unseen. When I see something that interests me, I try to understand why I like that particular thing. Is it the color, form, shape, composition, texture, etc?" (1) This suggest that the artist is very experimental both in the terms of the media he uses and the way he paints. I also found out that in a interview he describe his work process and the way his work turns out by  "I have always learned best through “accidents.” Early in my career, I noticed that “mistakes” (early in the creative process) can be a huge asset. So I have tried to incorporate making mistakes into how I work" (1)

Here is some of his work bellow:

Above, Michael Cina - 'Hovering Over the Water' fermented acrylic on paper (left) (2)  and Michael Cina - 'Apex' Archival ink prints on Cotton Archival paper (right) (3)

As seen, his work does not consist of a specific subject, however there is probably a strong meaning or emotion behind it.  For instance the artist has said that a big part of his work inspiration is music, as it takes up a big part in his life. So all of this work could have been done to express that music, the way it makes him feel, which might justify why his work is so organic. 


I have chosen to analyse one of his paintings called 'Vault of the Sky'. The media used for this painting is acrylic on museum board 2" frame. (reference link 5) Here is the image bellow: 

To me it is an expressive abstract painting, I feel like there does not need to be a huge splash of various colours, to make it expressive. The reason I like this painting so much is because it looks uplifting. When I look at this painting, It makes me imagine that I am rising up from underwater in the sea but never actually reach the top,although I'm surrounded by the light of the sun the dark endless water is still around me. Or maybe this painting represents the rising of the sun, as the light yellow sunlight slowly reclaims the sky from the darkness. Honestly there are so many things this painting can be representing, it could merely just be a painting expressing the feeling of how music or happiness warms up your mind/body, it really is all up to the viewers imagination.

'Vault of the Sky' is similar to work by an artist and architect called Thierry Despont, who creates paintings of various planets, his work has been described as follows "The imagery of the paintings is based on heavenly orbs: mysterious planets that revolve from darkness into light". There is resemblance between the two artists work because the paintings have a similar texture, surface and the appearance as a whole. Possibly 'Vault of the Sky' can be viewed as a close up of the moon or another rocky surface planet. Bellow are some images of work by Thierry Despont.

Above, Thierry Despont "NB 17-T" 2010 ,Jacquard tapestry (left) (6) and Thierry Despont "NB 06-T"  2010, Jacquard tapestry (right) (6)

I think what makes 'Vault of the Sky' stand out so effectively is the contrast between the black and the use of pastel pink and yellow colours, as they are lighter they illuminate the whole painting, as if lights at night. Also because the colours are layered over each other they create this gradual change in tone from one color or shade into the next, fading and softening into the other colour, especially the pastel pink and pastel yellow colours, but then there is this quick and bold change in colour when from the two soft colours into black. This really adds a bold effect to the painting, especially highlighting the softer, lighter colours. 

Also the layering of the paint creates this bumpy uneven texture, this is probably because the acrylic paint in  'Vault of the Sky' is applied quite energetically and It seems to me that there was either water applied to the surface to add this uneven texture, or there was something pressed down against the surface whilst the paint was wet, because it appears as if air bubbles formed on the surface of the painting, especially round the right side where the pink paint is. 

The painting is in a 2D form, however there is no clear shapes or lines in it, as mentioned before the whole painting is free flowing and quite organic, as it was created freehand. Even so there does not need to be clear lines or some specific subject, because this way the painting is more unique and original, you would not get or recreate exactly the same thing ever again. 

Composition wise , when I look at the painting the first thing that I notice is the light colours at the bottom of the image, and only after that do I notice the dark black colours, because it is not as lively and bright as the yellow and pink pastel colours. 

Overall I think I could use Michael Cina's style and techniques as there is so much I can experiment with. He has used a huge variety of media through out different pieces of his work allowing me to freely explore different options and see how different media turns out on different materials. Also I am impressed by his expression of emotions through colours, with no need of justifying or showing a clear subject. I think because my theme is developing around butterfly colours, his style would really help me to figure out a way to show the beautiful colours their wings have, without the actual need of having the butterfly, in a way zooming in just into the colour itself and closely observing it.

I have already tried to work inspired by 'Vault of the Sky' by layering acrylic paint and ink together, to create a chipping paint effect with gradual colour change similar to Cina's work. Here is my work bellow :

I like the effect that the layering of the two medias creates, as there are both lighter and darker tones creates. I took this technique even further and created a butterfly drawing using conte-crayon, ink and pencil, using this photograph of a butterfly Here is my work bellow :

Although this drawing did not turn out as successful as I hoped, it gave me the idea of using media other than pens or pencils to draw and add detail to butterfly wings with free hand drawing. In a way free-flowing lines create a more effective and organic and natural looking effect, than it would if i was to carefully draw the butterfly.



Reference:

1) http://grainedit.com/2013/11/21/mike-cina-interview/

2) http://cinaart.com/Art/Hovering-Over-the-Water
3) http://cinaart.com/Art/Apex
4) http://cinaart.com/Art/Funerary-In-Soft-Limestone
5) http://cinaart.com/Art/Vault-of-the-Sky
6) http://www.marlboroughgallery.com/exhibitions/threading-orbs-an-exhibition-of-recent-tapestries-and-works-on-paper-by-thierry-w-despont