Michael Rider
  • about
  • resume
  • portfolio
    • Children Drawings
    • Season Paintings
    • Temptation Drawings
    • Meditation by System
    • Figments of Imagination
    • Quiet Trees
    • Evil Eyes & Bullseyes
    • What Has Been Left
    • Fractals
    • Gardens
    • Invisible Forest
    • Days of the Week
    • File Folder Paintings
    • Sleeping Forest
    • Inventors
    • Forecasts & Tombs
    • Illusions Of Land (paintings)
    • Illusions Of Land (drawings)
    • Organ & Bone (paintings)
    • Organ & Bone (drawings)
    • Scrolls
    • Nature's Relationships
    • paintings 2010-2011
    • ceramics
  • statements
  • purchase
  • contact
Temptation Drawings (2020)
Upon my experience on apps like Grindr, I’ve gathered a collection of these “dick pics” that strangers sent to me. I was compelled to draw these photos and memorialize them, or the people these photos belonged to. These images symbolize my true desire for connection rather than sex. We live in a very replaceable, cancel culture world, where people aren’t willing to talk with someone of a different belief. Apart from desire, I felt the need to share these drawings only to express my pain as a non-binary individual when it comes to finding love. It is harder to be a minority in this regard. A lot of these men fetishized me during our exchange. We live in a strange time of dating apps, pornography, and instant gratification. We all are either temptation or the tempted whether we like it or not.

Meditation by System (2020)
Working with grid structures and patterns, I was able to enter into a meditative state making these artworks. I had a reoccurring dream of checkered patterns and flowing organic forms. I felt compelled to paint them with flat layers of watered down acrylic paint on small canvases. The pleasing nature of these compositions allowed me to play with bright and pastel colors to create a sense uplifting and carefree experiences. I wanted to hint at stories with the titles. Assisted with contrasting elements of playfulness and system, I was able to create intimate works that I hope can inspire rest and more importantly, content.

Quiet Trees (2020)
These paintings were made when quarantine first started back in March of 2020. I was fortunate enough to move in with my family back in Virginia for that time being. It would have been my longest time being back home from living in New York city. These paintings were made in a few of the first evenings being back in Virginia with a few glasses of wine while thinking that the future suddenly became so unclear.


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