Michael Ge

I paint mostly from life: still lifes, streets I have walked through, and people around me, including myself. I like starting with something ordinary, like a bowl of fruit or a wall with an exit sign, and looking at it long enough that it starts to feel like more than that. A lot of my time goes into light, where it lands, where the shadows cut across, and how much color is hiding in something that looks white or grey.

Exit and Out of Time are both self-portraits. Out of Time is about the feeling of always running behind, so I surrounded myself with clocks. Exit is quieter, just me standing by a door in the afternoon sun.

Besides painting I do figure drawing, ceramics and some product design. Visiting design studios in Milan in 2024 got me interested in how objects are made, and right now I am trying to bring the same close looking I use in painting into those projects too.