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Michael Cheval



Michael Cheval was born in 1966. He graduated from Ashgabat School of Fine Art with a degree in Fine Art. Since 1998 Michael is a member of the National Arts Club, New York, NY. Resident of New York.

For the last 6 years Michael has participated in twenty-three group exhibitions and fourteen one-man shows. In 2000 Michael became a winner of the Exhibition Committee Award on Annual Exhibition in National Arts Club, New York, NY.

In 2002 and in 2003 he had won a privilege to participate in an Annual Exhibition of the Society for Art of Imagination, London, UK.

In November 2003 three Michaelís original paintings had been included in "Brave Destiny" exhibition of the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, New York, the largest art show of the visionary art around the world.

"The choice of the topic and heroes in my art are conditioned by my feelings and thoughts, during the moment when I create my painting. It could be a book, music, or a live example. I do not relate with either impressionists or surrealists. In all my images I try to analyze and then convert to metaphor, everything that makes an impression on me. The hero of my paintings usually is a simple man; this man can love, suffer, or even sometimes be merry or melancholy. When I know my hero precisely, it is at this time that the performance begins.

         The choice of appearance of my hero - that is his suit, the mask, the gesture, and the facial expressions. It all depends on the heroís character, his inner nature in the paintings, and on the subject line. That is why I often use people as in a puppet show, where they are egg headed, hollow in face, reminiscent of the mask of Greek theatre. Sometimes the faces of my heroes are very realistic. Such people have nude figures, or customs of different epochs. The different ways of depicting my heroes every time allows me to look at my topics in anew way. It helps me to open up my topic with anew language, which is related only to the individual painting, or to series of pictures.

          The co-authorship and rivalry at the same time, between the artist and the spectator, and the need to understand each other, is my general aim. That is why my spectator has to be ready for this kind of game. He should have aspiration to understand the world I present, and thereby expend his horizons and his consciousness. I offer the spectator the chance to collide with the situation I present in my pictures. The hollow dolls play people, and their suits are only a show for the spectator.

          I want to invite my spectator for reflection and argument, with the help of metaphoric images, a kind of co-authorship, which can be completely unexpected and lead to new openings."