Studio Visit with MICHAEL VOSS

Michael Voss, 2015, oil on linen

It was a real pleasure and privilege to visit Michael Voss in his Bushwick studio. As with most paintings, but especially with Michael's, images do not come close to capturing the delicacy of color and surface he achieves in his small potent works. Sometimes built with many layers, sometimes more immediate, his paintings are comprised of soft contrasts and understated drama. The intuitive configuration of each piece arrives at a moment of perfect poise and is preserved there by restraint. These are quiet objects of pure feeling and extraordinary visual poetry.

Michael Voss in his studio

Michael Voss, 2015, oil on linen 

Michael Voss, 2015, oil on linen

Michael Voss, 2015, oil on linen 

Michael Voss, 2015, oil and graphite on linen 

Michael Voss, 2015, oil on linen

Michael Voss, drawings

Michael Voss studio

MICHAEL VOSS Paintings/Interview

Michael Voss, Fenelus, 2010, oil on linen

There is an excellent interview with Brooklyn painter Michael Voss featured on the BRIC Contemporary Art website, in which Voss talks about making his deceptively simple small-scale abstract paintings. On the subject of simplicity, he says:

"It’s not something you solve once and then you have it. Simplicity is something that you approach, that’s fleeting, that moves. I’m very drawn to the moment when actually something simple starts to become complicated."

Indeed Voss is making paintings that are driven by an intuitive sense of that most delicate balance, a search for that point in the process where what was nothing suddenly, magically, takes on some essential resonance. His ability to stop at that moment is one of the most striking characteristics of his work. I have not been familiar with Voss' work until now, and look forward to seeing more.

Michael Voss, 2009, 16 x 14 inches, oil on linen

Michael Voss, Fuentes, 2009, oil on canvas

Michael Voss, Kleber Salas, 2009, oil on linen

Michael Voss, studio view, Brooklyn

Images from the internet