Michael Hedges

Michael Hedges is an abstract expressionist painter based in Chicago, Illinois. While in high school, Hedges spent two years studying at the Art Institute of Chicago before going on to receive his B.A. in Studio Art from Loras College in Dubuque, IA in 1998. Since then, he has been working as a full-time artist, honing his visual vocabulary of line and color to express intense and nuanced emotions in paint.

In Hedges' words, "my paintings are a synthesis of color, line, form and texture. They begin as a problem of two or more color relationships to be explored through form. The form is loosely defined by a drawing that acts as a skeleton and exo-skeleton both beneath and above the finished work. The application of the media to the painting surface is of utmost importance to me. The paint is applied with great bursts of energy, creating a surface, if I am successful, that is supercharged with texture and color. I work on multiple, usually around 10, paintings at the same time, all centered on the original problem. This multiple approach allows me to go in different directions, very quickly building the energy that is critical to a successful painting. I strive to create intense, even, and stunning color relationships that are balanced by form and texture into a controlled elegance. The challenge here is to create a vibration in the work that energizes it without separating."

Hedges work hangs permanently in corporations throughout Illinois and Iowa as well as notable private collections in the US and abroad.