About

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​​​Hola Mis Amigos

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Welcome! I hope you found my work to be somewhat interesting. Allow me to shed some light into what made me to be the artist I am today. 

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I was born November 30, 1990 in Brookhaven, New York. The moment I first realized my passion to make art was at the age of 12 when my father, Gary Hartmann, enrolled me into a drawing class with a very successful artist of the Hamptons named Paton Miller. However, even before my first charcoal drawing class, as a little boy I had the desire to create. The sense of my ability to create was first revealed to me through a sort of copy and paste method of drawing. I would copy a picture out of a book of Disney characters through observational drawing which is a method of simply drawing what you see before you. It was the fact, I believed so early on, my drawings very closely resembled the images I was copying that would later on give me the courage to create one of my greatest works to-date, Edmond. 

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My creative vision was cultured through the study of art history and the exposure to the great museums of the world. There was never anything more satisfying of creative influence for me than seeing original artworks spanning our entire history right there before you. For me this was always one of the most rewarding creative experiences. The best way to classify my style would be a combination of the respect I have for these historic works and a desire to be different or bold. After studying the work of many artists throughout history, I began to assimilate certain thoughts that appeared to be of a common interest like materials used or more conceptual qualities such as setting and subject. It became a strong interest of mine to contribute these findings to my own technique. Artists that have inspired my style are; Michelangelo, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, Vincent van Gogh, Frida Khalo, Alice Neel, Grant Wood, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Susan Rothenberg, George Condo, and Trenton Doyle Hancock to name a few. As an artist I feel it is my duty to pay respect to the great pioneers of art throughout history. My work pays tribute by using older techniques such as oil painting and and including foreign or "raw" materials in order to strive to be unique. Sometimes the thought process is to contemplate, "what would a master and genuine soul like van Gogh have done here?" A huge priority of mine is to be as original and innovative as possible. It is important for any artist to always be pushing their boundaries. My boundaries are pushed through the application of 3-dimensional elements and the use of symbolism. In addition, it never hurts to bring the insecurities of mankind into the subject. My goal as an artist is to invoke a feeling, thought or sensation within the viewer that they may have otherwise forgotten due to societal normalities. Art has the power to change the world. It should be the driving force of any artist to push through boundaries in order to produce the most provocative and stimulating work possible. 

 

Thank you for viewing my site. Please feel free to send me a personal message through the "contact" tab.

 

-Michael Ferdinand Hartmann

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