MICHAEL KOEHLER

GREEN STATIC

debut solo feature

May 3rd - June 2nd, 2024

Opening Reception: First Friday, May 3rd from 5-9pm

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Arch Enemy Arts presents GREEN STATIC by Michael Koehler, a solo exhibition of fifteen framed paintings in acrylic on wood and aluminum panels. Koehler’s surreal compositions are composite portraits from some future unreality; a prospective time in which nature and technology have coalesced to birth mighty, megalithic beings. For this series, Koehler has captured seven fully grown creatures along with eight small studies of their recently propagated offspring. 

 

It is a joy to see how artists chew on an idea over time, and GREEN STATIC feels like a clear and exciting moment of evolution for Koehler and his work. Whereas his previous paintings had a touch of foreboding, the forms in GREEN STATIC are playful, joyous, and endearing, rendered in fresh and cohesive colors that fill the lungs like morning air. 

 

“With this body of work I wanted to further explore my interest in the connection we have to nature in an increasingly technologically dependent world…through a lens of optimism, trusting this shift in perspective would challenge our ideas of what environmental co-existence looks like. What would a world that is based around preserving nature rather than exploiting it resemble? And how can sustainable advances in technology help build an infrastructure that supports this ethos?”

 

To create answers to these (potentially unanswerable) questions, Koehler combines twisting, geometric abstractions, mechanical structures, and floral arrangements into expressive faces that loosely call to mind Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s “composite heads.” Unlike Arcimboldo, Koehler’s subjects rise above sweeping impressions of atmospheric landscapes, creating the expansive boundlessness of a free and unchartered future. 

 

Michael Koehler is based in Pittsburgh, PA. He holds a degree in Graphic Design and is largely self-taught as a painter. Koehler began exhibiting regularly with Arch Enemy Arts in 2021 after submitting to our Spotlight Showcase, participating in more than a dozen group shows, and GREEN STATIC is his first solo feature with the gallery. 

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GREEN STATIC will be on view from May 3rd - June 2nd, 2024
Sold works will begin to ship the week starting June 9th unless other rush arrangements have been made.

Payment plan options are available on most works.

All items marked with a red dot have been sold. 

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