Born and raised in Southern California, Michael Moon knew he wanted to be an artist since the second grade. From this time until he graduated from college he sporadically continued his interest in painting, drawing and art history, but decided on a career in education. After finishing his M.A. in Educational Psychology, he began a combination of formal study at Art Center College of Design and UCLA in addition to his own experimentation and process in which he explored his continued attraction to painting.
Influenced especially by El Greco's passion, the Impressionist's love of color and the Expressionist's love of paint, for the next eight years he painted essentially in solitude. During this time he also began to be influenced by Eastern thought as well as the practice of meditation. It is during this time that he began to integrate Eastern and Western thought in the symbolism of his paintings.
Ultimately for him the process perhaps is even more important than the product. Mr. Moon continues to refine and synthesize his journey through the vehicle of painting. Over the last decade he has had numerous solo and group shows, especially in California.
"Painting is a means to create whatever comes to me. It is a creative experience which translates into a spiritual exercise - a spiritual workout as it were. It becomes a conversation with myself, which sometimes resonates immediately - other times with a struggle - but a process, however it unfolds, that hopefully is honest, real and valid.
Whenever I start a painting it is with passion, excitement and anticipation as I am both participant and observer as color, shape, and form evolve onto a blank canvas. Color for me comes from a joy of having hues interplay with each other - light to dark, soft to strong, muted to bold, blended to contrasted. This use of color becomes an alchemist's palette - with a result not predetermined - but with bits and incidents of color unfolding on their own terms. Often I see myself in this process as a vessel or conduit where form, color and shape take their own journey and take their deserved place on a surface. Consciously or not, there is always a conversation among the tools and materials used and myself. The result, when successful, is a hopefully recognizable and enduring mystery that resonates a deep-seated familiarity from the viewer."
