Michael Young

Michael Young lives and works in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and Berlin, Germany. His early life was divided between small communities in central Newfoundland, and the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Working primarily in painting, drawing and collage, he seeks to explore basic social life by showing how some human experiences can be primal, modern, authentic and artificial at the same time. His work is characterized by explorations of gender, style, class and social location, frequently in the context of figurative and landscape imagery. Using a variety of materials, glitter, glazes, foils, and vibrant colours he constructs figures that communicate postmodern malaise and ennui, disconnection and exclusion from community, and the evolution of social bonding and masculinity.