Micheal Koza
painter
Painting is a way of seeing the world. What inspires my artistic urge is the desire to capture that protracted moment, that unnamed color, that just below-the-surface feeling, that sensation brought on by a particular color combination.I remember reading somewhere that all artists are collectors: that they want to hoard images, to gather them up, and never let go. Painting, for me, is a way of holding onto the world, connecting with it, and ultimately understanding it just a little better.
This is a time of great change in my career as an artist. Most of my previous work has been concerned with the translation of feeling into image, using light and shadow as the dominant language. That communication was best achieved, I felt, through portraiture.
Recently, I have become fascinated with reflected light and color, especially in architecture, and its power to communicate through its own language. It is a new and energizing concept for me that reflection itself – in both in the visual and emotional sense – can drive the artistic process. This change has been inspired by my relocation, in 2005, to Asheville, North Carolina, a city that provides an architectural feast to newcomers. This new direction may make it harder to categorize the kind of art I produce, but it makes my life as an artist fulfilling in ways that continue to surprise me.
