We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Amquy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I wish I had started my career earlier. I didn’t knew I had the talent to become an artist until other people looked at my work. I’ve been interested in art since I was small, when my mom introduced me to visual expression. Having a neurological condition, I always felt misunderstood and I took art as a form of expressing myself and my emotional up and downs. When I was a teenager I got interested in graffiti and I then started to take art classes. I had my first solo show in 2021, where I showed a selection of paintings from a series of more than 100 canvases I did during the pandemic. I grew up within the Lakota tradition through my father, so when I paint, I channel my inner spirits in the form of abstract paintings that represent my deepest emotions caused by my everyday encounters with society and life itself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born and raised in Miami from a Lakota / Brazilian father and a Ukrainian mother. I have attended different workshops and art classes at De La Cruz Collection in Miami and Oolite Art Center in Miami Beach. I started my discovery in fashion design and graffiti art at the beginning of 2018 while being an artist in residency at Carolina Sardi’s Studio. I developed my own Graffiti T-Shirt line and got deeper into free style drawing. In 2020 I took painting classes with Pablo Contrisciani and painting techniques with Antuan Rodriguez. My first solo show was held in 2021 at Carolina Sardi Studio in Little Haiti, Miami. I am currently working with acrylics on canvas, always experimenting with new techniques and formats .

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew that when you are an artist you could have access to opportunities such as grants, exhibitions and projects. I later discovered that there’s a lot out there, you just have to search for what’s appropriate for your career path.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing of being an artist is that you can express yourself however you want and no one judges you for the mistakes. As an artist I had the opportunity of being interviewed for Voyage Miami Magazine and got a lot of opportunities like applying for the Catalyst Program Miami and putting my name out there.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.puxk32.tumblr.com
• Instagram: amquyart
• Facebook: Loveforever188

Image Credits
Marino Costa Peuser , Carolina Sardi, James Cunningham Jr.