Episode 55 - Mike Shultis

Mike Shultis is an artist but you would be accurate if you called him a theatrical set designer, an architect, an antique dealer, an editor and a story teller. His paintings are three dimensional, better known as assemblages. Mike likes to say his art productions are ancient story lines repeating itself to show the cycle of history. He edits the message. There are not that many artists who create assemblages and I am happy to say that my husband and I are owners of one of Mike’s magnificent masterpieces. We bought it on an art trip to Detroit with Fountainhead Arts. We walked into the Library Street Collective, Detroit’s premiere art gallery, and spotted Mike’s work immediately. Gallerist Melanie Baer Schwartz was absolutely terrific explaining Mike’s work and all of the objects featured. Artist Alison Zuckerman curated the entire show so we knew Mike’s work was very special. Mike’s new body of work can be seen right now at a very progressive NYC gallery, Morgan Presents—537 W 27 Street. www.morgan-presents.com The exhibition, “Rome,” employs historical compositions as an armature for societal critique. Utilizing a range of source imagery, from classical mosaics to baroque painting, Mike draws a parallel between the hedonism, avarice and ultimate collapse of a storied Roman age and our own contemporary reality. Mike (b. 1987, Albuquerque, NM) lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale School of Art and holds a BFA in Painting from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Mike has had solo exhibitions at Morgan Presents, New York; Ashes/Ashes, New York; Diane Rosenstein, Los Angeles. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Library Street Collective, Detroit; Carl Kostyál, Stockholm; The Bronx Museum of the Arts; and Rizzuto Gallery, Palermo, Italy.