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Michael Arcieri

"I am engaged in a vital and ever-changing relationship with the world around me. I cultivate on canvas a pictorial and cinematic understanding of my own visual thought process. The use of anachronistic elements in my work is part of a wider vocabulary that includes social pressures, propaganda, advertising, assumptions and expectations both personal and professional. I employ a language of sensuality, fear, violence and romance with an intuitive understanding of the underground establishment to ask provocative questions of modern culture, mythology, fairy tales, theology and various systems of belief. I use the viewer's memory within the deluge of life to connect the individual with the collective while simultaneously rejecting both. My paintings are charged with multiple narratives that challenge the viewer to question their own motives."

Michael Arcieri graduated the Art Institute of Houston in 1987 and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana where he resided for seven years. Studying realism painting under painter Patricia Whitty, his knowledge and technique of realism painting grew and was perfected during this period. By the mid-1990's national galleries began representing his work. Selected works were then included in the 20th Anniversary Exhibit at the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the summer of 1999 Michael moved to the Eastern seaboard's Baltimore, Maryland and began studying under Spain's world renowned contemporary painter Salvador Bru. Arcieri then moved into a studio converted from a 150 year old foundry on the edge of historic Baltimore City where he began creating larger works during this period and his national recognition continued to grow. In 2003 Arcieri moved back to his hometown of Houston, Texas where he now lives and paints in The Heights. Michael was awarded the Maryland State Arts Council Grant, Individual Artist Award in 2003. His work is included in the permanent collection of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana as well as private and corporate collections across the United States.

On Arcieri's latest body of work "American Album":

"American Album explores the verity of memories and asks to what extent memories are shaped by a person's ability to remember the past. These singular interpretations of recalled moments in time are unique to each human being. American Album represents a revealing view of Americana as interpreted by the human psyche. The imagery spans decades providing an intriguing glimpse at a photo album of 'thought images.' These ambiguous portrayals of familiar people, places and events accelerate the boundaries of representational painting."

	MORE ON MICHAEL ARCIERI
Michael Arcieri CV Exhibition: "American Album"