About

b. 1968 Charlottesville, VA

Artist Michael Rich approaches art-making as a means of exploring the natural world through the language of contemporary abstraction. A life spent around the woods and waters of New England has helped to shape a love and interest in the natural rhythms of color that remain a focal point in his work today.  Michael comes to the process of painting “free of preconceptions” and aims to discover poetic spaces of memory through painting that is visceral, physical and colorful.

A frequent traveler, Michael has enjoyed extended stays in both France and Italy, taking time in the landscape to draw, paint and visit the great museums of Europe. Travel provides example on a deeper level of the connection between art and place, with resonance in his work long after he has returned to his home studio.

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Michael went on to study painting at The University of Georgia in Cortona, Italy and earn his Masters in Fine Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design. His work is featured in numerous private and public collections, including, The Smithsonian Institute; The RISD Museum; The Bronx Museum of the Arts; The Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans and the Springfield Museum of Art.  His work has been exhibited internationally, including during the 2022 Venice Biennale at the European Cultural Centre, Venice and in Paris at the Grand Palais during Art Capital.

Michael Rich is a Professor of Visual Arts at Roger Williams University and lives and works in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

Statement

“Abstract in their outward appearance, my paintings, drawings and prints derive from the landscapes of my experience. I grew up and live in New England and have found endless inspiration in the landscape and ocean waters here. My travels through Italy and France over the last 30 years, ground my work in the idea of beauty and light in nature, in painting and in the History of Art. Recently, a move to the wooded, Southeast of Massachusetts have brought influences of the natural world from my more immediate surroundings of forests and farmlands to my studio work.

I come to the canvas free of preconceptions and open to the possibilities of discovery. Through the language of contemporary abstraction, I strive in my work to find an illuminated landscape with the resonance of memory in light and color. I look at my paintings as if I am looking across a landscape I could swear I once visited. I walk long distances without moving.“