Since November of 2007, Michael has painted at concerts in a legendary
range of situations, from basement clubs to the deep Nevada desert to
NASA's Ames Research Center – both onstage and off, and alongside
internationally renowned visionary artists Alex & Allyson Grey, Mark
Henson, Kris D, J Garcia, Oliver Vernon, Andrew Jones, Amanda Sage,
Xavi, and Mars-1. He is the resident live painter and concert poster
artist for ActionPacker Pro Productions in New Orleans, has been
featured (in many cases, repeatedly) at the Wakarusa Festival, Sonic
Bloom Festival, Rothbury Festival (as a part of IAMU's ReSOurce
Center), Global Sound Conference, Trinumeral Festival, Gem & Jam, and
Rocky Mountain Crystallization Festival...and has held live painting
residencies at the Trilogy Lounge in Boulder CO (February - August
2008) and the Mondrian Hotel's Pere La Chaise Lounge in Scottsdale AZ
(March - May 2009). Recently he has assumed responsibility as a de
facto journalist and organizer for the growing live art community.
Michael’s improvised live paintings are hand-illustrated with pens
(and without computers or measuring tools) during concerts. Each
painting grows according to an evolving visual genome, translated from
the throb of the house and the crowd into cross-sections of fireworks
and undersea faeries, closed-eye tessellations and luminous
fossils…vivid scenes of unabashed intensity, verdant and exultant
imagery written in the natural language of dreams. Reflecting his
training as a scientific illustrator, Michael’s live art is a field
guide to the beings that emerge at the energetic nexuses of live
music…the boundary-living electric winged spirits that crash into
being through a dancing throng while he is a seismograph and
portraitist, swaying to their breath.
See more of Michaels work at:
myspace.com/michaelgarfield Michael's Blog
"Super intense and completely focused...his attention to detail
consistently raised the quality bar."
- Christopher Gaspar, jambase.com
"[Michael's] illustrating, as Huxley would say, the 'antipodes' of the
Divine Imagination."
- Alex Grey, visionary artist
"Totally unique."
- Michael Travis (String Cheese Incident, Zilla, EOTO)