News & Updates
Updates, events, & perspectives regarding the state of the arts.
Rainbow Serpent Music Festival Stage Design
We just had a GREAT time at Rainbow Serpent Festival in Australia designing and building their 'Market' Stage. Rainbow Serpent is a yearly music festival held outside of Lexton, Victoria. Primarily electronic music, it hosts acts from around the world. I think my favorite moment of the weekend was dancing to Lee Burridge on one of those perfect golden afternoon dance parties. Some of the other performers included Perfect Stranger, Lee Burridge, Beats Antique, Desert Dwellers/Treavor Moontribe and many more.
For the stage, we sent designs ahead of time and had them CNC cut. The center piece of the project was the giant dragon head that Violet spearheaded. The dragon head, crafted from all the scrap parts of the cnc cutting of the project, adorned the top middle of the stage with a disco ball in its mouth. What a labor of love it was but o so worth it when it was put into place.
Check out some pictures below.
Recognition/Compassion (St. Francis)
St. Francis - he always seemed to be around when I was growing up. I had a St. Francis nightlight of glowing yellow translucent porcelain. A two foot tall concrete statue of him lived in the garden. He was over our big console TV, as a cross stitch on burlap or something - some coarse material. It was made in the 70s. In that image, St. Francis was walking outside and had a bird in his hand. I remember, too, a rabbit, another bird flying, and a butterfly. The stitching was sparse but there he was.
So he was around - the image and idea of him anyhow. But who was he, to me, growing up? Of all the characters of Christian pantheon - and I heard about plenty, having been raised Roman Catholic - he seemed to be the least mythic and the most human. He was a simple and gentle man, a monk, who loved nature and walked amongst the animals and saw the Divine in all things.
Interview on Reality Sandwich
Nese Devenot interviewed me recently for www.RealitySandwich.com.
From her Introduction... Among the newer iterations of visionary artists - a cohort that includes Amanda Sage, Luke Brown, Adam Scott Miller, and Andrew “Android” Jones - Michael Divine has carved out a niche all his own. His evolving style is unmistakeable even from a distance: sweeping vistas, vaulting archways, and numinous geometries establish epic scales of wonder and discovery, while stylized figures express an emotional intensity that seems incongruous with the simplicity of their forms. Energetic tendrils and cloudy billows are pierced by sharp lines and distinctive edges — contrasts of form that mirror the juxtaposition of colors, which often arrive in a mix of pastels: coral and turquoise, sunset golds and royal violets. The total compositions are encounters with - not just depictions of - divine insights and profound meditation. Viewers enter the fold of a capacious awareness that strikes viscerally, at the gut level, resulting in a transference of epiphany.Read the full interview here: http://realitysandwich.com/216755/transference-epiphany-talk-michael-divine/
Fire Paintings from September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001, I was living in Burlington, VT - painting, enjoying the coming autumn, etc. I didn't have a TV (still don't), never listened to the radio (still don't) and the internet was still just a plodding dirt road through the hills - not the information super highway it was to become.
I woke up that morning with a desire to paint big red fiery paintings. I had a couple of large pieces of masonite - a 4' x 4' square and a 4' x 2.5' rectangle - and a few cans of red, yellow, orange, and purple latex paints. So around 8 am, with a cup of coffee, I went at it. The diamond/square painting I called 'Phoenix.' The other was 'Unsquaring the Circle' and felt like a great release of energy.
A few hours later, I went for a walk downtown. In bars and restaurants and everywhere it seemed everyone was glued to the TV. There was a strange lull in the air - a strange quiet tension. I poked my head in a pizzeria on a corner and heard the news. In one fell swoop, one great unsquaring of the the circle, a whole new demon was released. And a whole whole lot changed.
There was a lightness that died that day. A bubble that burst. Things got more serious. From economic crashes to endlessly costly wars to intrusions of privacy and the slashing of civil liberties to an endless stoking of the fires of fear. It's a different world than the one I knew from the 90s.
But life goes on. Fear begets fear and light begets light. Everyday it's another deep breath as we keep moving forwards
New Poster for Conscious Alliance and STS9
I designed this poster which is available from Conscious Alliance and Sound Tribe Sector Nine this weekend (March 21/22) in Atlanta, GA. The 18" x 24" poster is silkscreened and the colors look great! I'm so happy to work with Conscious Alliance again. I think they do really really great work and I'm always happy to support them when I can.
Who/What is Conscious Alliance?
Conscious Allaince is a "non-profit organization committed to hunger relief and youth empowerment." They bring in money and food donations through posters that they sell through their "Art that Feeds" program at music events. It's a great model for a really powerful non-profit that helps to provide food to those who are in need.
Nomos Journal Interview with Michael Divine
I recently did an interview with Nomos Journal - an online journal "that publishes a revolving array of material engaging the intersection between contemporary expressions of religion and popular culture.". We talked about art, history, painting, mysticism, amongst other things... it was great. Give it a read! (*thanks, seth!)
Art Outside outside of Austin, TX
Had a whole lot of fun this past weekend at Art Outside in Texas. Art Outside is a heavily arts-focused festival (in lieu of a festival which is MUSIC + art) put on by a wonderful crew of people, mainly, I think, from the Austin area. Violet and I really enjoyed it - met a lot of wonderful people and made a lot of great connections. Thank you so much for having us out to join y'all!
Lightning in a Bottle 2012
I had a ton of fun this past weekend at Lightning in a Bottle in Irvine, CA. Irvine isn't the sort of place you expect such things - a wild artisticly inclined endeavor of a party - part Burning Man, part LA performance, part.... everything else. But sure enough, there it is and it's a whole barrel of fun. I met some great great new friends and planted seeds for some really awesome upcoming projects. For one, there was Archival Inc, a fine art publishing company that I am working with to produce a new series of high quality limited edition prints on paper. You'll be hearing more about them soon. Another cool thing was a collaboration I did with Hans Haveron. We'd never met before but were certainly aware of each other's work. Hans tends more towards the street art scene while I tend more towards... well, whatever it is that I tend more towards. Our work, while different, was wonderfully complimentary and we created something really beautiful. I look forward to next year.
Symbiosis Pyramid Eclipse Painting/Poster
I created a painting for Symbiosis Gathering's Pyramid Eclipse Festival, May 17 - 21 at Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Signed copies of the poster will be available in the merch tent at the gathering.
Eastern Sun: Integrate Album Cover
Eastern Sun recently put out a new album cover featuring my painting "There Are No Loose Ends".
Here are some notes on the album from bandcamp"