MIKE ROWE

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is all me. I’m self-taught and don’t have any formal training, but have always had an eye for design and talents inherited from my father, who was an artist and illustrator in his own career. At an early age, I always loved to draw and took art classes in school, but did not pursue a degree, but instead a degree in journalism, and eventually as an Adult Education instructor teaching and guiding students how to speak English in the city colleges of Chicago.

Textures, colors, and movement play a vital role in my work.  I found my direction and inspiration from many artists - Picasso, Warhol, Pollack, even Edward Hopper, with his use of moody colors and compositions. I love color, shapes and textures, and the medium I express most is painting in oil pastels, chalk pastels, acrylics, but not limited by other sources to create something stimulating. I think art can tell stories, invoke emotions and engage the observer in very unique ways, and in my case, visual stimuli that marries the components of color, -shape and texture that weaves a narrative of its own. It’s my contribution to the world.