June 30th – August 30th, 2024
Artists’ Reception: Thursday, July 11th from 6-8 pm
with a Brief Gallery Talk at 7pm
Pleasant Ridge artist, Michael Crane, exhibits his stylized and colorful imagery of cats, fish and more. Viewers will enjoy his whimsical acrylic paintings, influenced by the Pop Art Movement of the 1950’s thru 1970’s.
Artist Michael Crane was born in Detroit and since early childhood he has had access to art supplies that fed his imagination while growing up. His uncle, Fred Horowitz, who taught art at Washtenaw Community College was very influential in Crane’s early interest in creating visual art. Horowitz also encouraged Crane to explore work in multiple mediums, such as oil and gouache, but prefers painting in acrylic.
Growing up his family had a brown and black tabby with a white belly named Calio. Later, as a graduate student, Crane adopted an orange tabby named Newt after a one liner in a popular Monty Python movie, Monty Python and Holy Grail, 1975. Anthropomorphic cats dominate Crane’s artistic output. His style plays in the realm of Pop Art with strong currents of Surrealism. He uses bold colored backgrounds (most commonly a bright blue) to help his figures literally “pop” from the picture plane. Crane often looks back to art history and literature for subtle ideas and tries to employ humor into his work.
When Crane married in 2005, his wife came to the marriage with a tuxedo cat named Sydney. Sydney was very much a one-person cat—his wife being his person. Nevertheless, Sydney became a new topic of inspiration for Crane’s paintings. Crane and his wife went on to adopt another feline friend, an orange tabby named Tigger. Tigger had an unapologetic personality and a unique ability to be in the middle of all household action. Crane had previously drawn and painted cats, but with the addition of Tigger in the mix, cats began to be a primary focus in his art. Other animals are also subjects in his art such as tropical fish; Crane has kept aquariums since childhood. Birds are another subject, he and his wife are amateur birders, and were early adopters for their age group. Last, other animals such as rhinos, sharks, and whales turn up in his art with cat playmates.
While living in San Francisco, Crane was able to exhibit in multiple local shows. Now back in Detroit, he shares a studio at the Scarab Club and continues to dream up more adventures in the cat-o-sphere.
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The Woods Gallery is located in the lower level of the Huntington Woods Library and is open during library hours.