We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael O’Guinn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
When I was 9 I told my parents I wanted to work in animation. I had just finished designing a set for our school play that was loosely based around the original Space Jam movie. My buddy Brandon and I drew life sized characters of the Monstars and Looney Toons; our teacher let us have an hour a day to work on the set design while the rest of the class read (which I thought was amazing but I would still catch up on my Goosebumps novels in the evenings). My artistic interest continued after that, but the idea of a career in the arts died as I reached young adulthood when more “practical” paths and sports eclipsed those seemingly childish notions of a career in the arts. It took about 25 years for me to tap back into that childlike enthusiasm.
I studied pre-law as an undergraduate and got a Masters in Public Administration shortly after graduation. Throughout that process I would draw often and found passion in photography from about 2009 to 2015, shooting lifestyle projects or the occasional wedding. I found a job with a good law firm in 2010 and have actually continued in the legal field ever since.
In 2021, I started painting large scale abstract works. Something clicked when I was in front of a large raw canvas. The excitement of creating that I had felt as a 9 year old was resurrected and I tapped into something that had been inside me, dormant for a long time. That innate desire to create had never left me and I didn’t realize just how much I’d neglected it for so long until I allowed my self the freedom to create on a regular basis. I know painting is something I’ll do forever. Whether it’s as a hobby or professionally, I don’t care and I don’t think it’s important to label your self as a “professional” necessarily. If you make good work, usually you’ll get traction at some point and the path towards a full time art career might become a reality.
Right now, painting is somewhere in between professional/hobby for me because I still have a stable career in the legal field as a Legal Analyst, but my artwork has found it’s way into galleries and some interesting collectors’ spaces, so I’m excited to see where the creative path leads me. If at some point my art can sustain my lifestyle independently, I’d love that. However, as an emerging artist, I will say that having a day job has allowed me a certain freedom to do what I want stylistically without thinking too much about the business side of things. Having the ability to have my own studio space and make things without concern about sales is nice and I think has allowed me to be more accepting of failed series. And as I write “failed,” I pause. Those were really just experiments that I learned something from that contributed to my current trajectory.
I love Picasso’s quote, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” For me, it took me most of my life to realize I needed to return to that childlike state of enthusiasm, and to make work that is raw and hopefully honest feeling, which is what Picasso’s getting at here. When I create consistently, which includes the failures and successes, I find myself more and more and good things tend to happen. I’ll keep making, because I need to, and I’m excited to see where it leads.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m an expressionist painter. My work tends to be a series of quick choices made in the moment as I create, often influenced by music I listen to or memories I tap into as a piece is made. Most of my work falls into two categories: 1) Process art, which are more subdued monochromatic pieces focused on layering of paints and use of alternative tools like squeegees and blowtorches to create textures and subtle history in the painting; and 2) Higher energy paintings with dynamic brush strokes, bold colors, and sometimes graffiti like markings. Influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement and other contemporary artists, I try to tap into big emotions as I paint and hope that the end product is evocative to the viewer. Ultimately that’s what I’m going for in my work – something that has feeling to it that people can enjoy visually and possibly connect with on a personal level. My work tends to have a bit of an urban or street influence and I think fits well into a variety of spaces.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
A great way to literally support the creative community is to buy work you like from living artists. The art world discourse is often centered around heavy hitting artists who have passed away or living artists who have reached the rare super stardom status. I always suggest that people go to local galleries and events to find artists they really like and collect something they connect with. The art world can be prohibitive in certain galleries, but there’s usually a way to find work within one’s budget that they can appreciate for a lifetime. Cities or landlords in certain cities (San Francisco for instance) have had issues with empty storefronts post-COVID. SF allocated money from its general fund to offer grants to creatives who applied and were selected to use a storefronts for a few months to act as a pop-up gallery. Those sort of creative urban planning ideas are fantastic ways to create a win/win for the creative community (by offering a space that might otherwise not be affordable) and to the community by enriching the locale with culture. I’d love to see more of this.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I’m still building, as we all are, but I developed more of an audience when I produced work and shared it on a consistent basis. Moreover, people started to pay attention a bit more when the work I shared was aesthetically consistent. I tend to work in series of about 10 to 15 paintings at a time, then move on to something new, all the while taking little bits of my past series with me to create overall continuity. It was really “branding” myself that caused a noticeable change in people’s interest. When we think of well-known painters, they usually have a signature style that’s instantly recognizable. Finding my style and putting work out that I think has what I hope is a distinct look has helped. I struggled with that a bit because I like to bounce around sometimes and try different methods. While I think it’s important to not become too formulaic, there’s something really important about distilling down the thing that makes your work a unique viewpoint that feels authentic. I’m actually at a point right now in the current series I’ve been making where I noticed the last few works were starting to feel a bit repetitive, or forced, and something in me said it’s time to progress into the new. It’s exciting and scary when that happens because I worry about the next thing might not be strong enough to keep people’s interest. Ultimately though, I try to follow my intuition and listen to that voice when it tells me to move along.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://michaeloguinnart.com/about
- Instagram: @moguinn