Michael Scoggins

Michael Scoggins’ medium of choice is nostalgia: he is best known for his large-scale, schoolboy-style doodles. After hitting a creative wall as a painter, Scoggins looked back to his childhood notebooks in search of inspiration.

Spurred by these notebooks, Scoggins began to recreate ruled pages on large pieces of paper, personally folding and crumpling them while covering them in doodles and book reports reminiscent of elementary school. The manipulation of the paper lends a sculptural quality to the art. Each piece is signed like a school assignment with the date and “Michael S.,” a caricature of a child whose blunt ideas challenge the viewer.

Scoggins frequently depicts cultural icons, such as superheroes and cartoons, in a childlike style that conveys a range of emotions from blissful ignorance to anxiety about growing up. He applies these emotions of childhood to his art, highlighting their roles in the “grown-up” world. While influenced by Pop Art and Dada, Scoggins use of informal materials such as notebook paper and graphite lends to his art a sense of accessibility. Unpretentious and evocative of a past age, Scoggins’ choice of materials allow his art to be enjoyed universally.

Born in 1973, Michael Scoggins received his MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2006. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn New York.