| MIKE BOCOK * "Passion of Art" |
Mike Bocok Michael was born in 1969, in Vrsac, a small town bordering Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia. In 1972 his family settled in Chicago, Illinois, where he spent most of his childhood. Early on Michael developed passions for Painting, Drawing and Photography, which remained mainstays throughout his life. But, combined with interests in Organic Life and Theoretical Sciences, and with rigid influence from family members, he moved on to study Medical Science throughout high school and early college. Until one day when, he realized that most of his time was focused not on Pure Science, but rather on integrating and transforming images and concepts acquired in Anatomy and Physics courses into Drawings and Paintings. This was the spark that propelled him to fully engage The Arts. In 2002 he moved to New York City to pursue a BFA in Painting which he eventually received from Pratt Institute. He has exhibited in New York City and Chicago, and has several works in private collections. Michael is represented by The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in New York City and currently resides in Brooklyn. Where he is working on a series of large scale Figurative Paintings. Series Statement: The concepts behind The Clarity of Movements have their roots in the time I spent studying medical sciences. While dissecting in the Anatomy lab, I relentlessly produced small detailed reference drawings that simultaneously clarified anatomical structures and scientific theories for me. Equally important, these drawings considered purely as visual aids, sparked a change in me. Moments too often overlooked, a breath, a heartbeat, a touch, were all absent from the entangled lifeless tissues. Yet surprisingly, life willingly manifested itself in the drawings. What were once commonplace structures emerged as new forms. In turn, a natural process bridging the gap between Art and Science began for me. Inevitably both require you question everything and take nothing at face value. These recent large scale figurative Paintings are an Oasis where Anatomy and Theories are not bound to or limited by nature. Here in this refuge, they play, they interact, they create new communities and form new shapes. Without restrictions something happens, something original. Moreover, in these environments, abstracted and fractured elements recontextualize. Similarly, the deliberate and the vague fuse; they begin to coincide. Meanwhile,a journey begins where coarse surfaces vibrate with thick heavily impastoed passages. While gnarly anatomical layers unravel in front of you revealing unobserved moments and obscured memories. Next, vibrant colors and bold gestural marks initiate a series of natural potentials. As such, lurid colors enclose forms yet surge beyond the surface. Here, the viewer may eventually find themselves breaking any illusions of control. Naiveté is stripped away. Causing Anatomical and Sociological systems to break down. Above all, allowing the gestural and fractured elements to establish anew. A new whole where moments capture states of change. Ultimately, this series comments on the way I see the world around me, as an interconnected balancing act between the predictable and unpredictable. |
| CONTACT:passionofart@adacartianu.com |