michaelsaunderspainting@gmail.com
Statement
I aim to document bits of memories of my connection to this existence. Immediate visions scribbled down that reveal something more internally personal. Subjects and motifs become personal stand-ins for myself. I have been working on smaller paintings to create an individual experience.
Works begin as sort of diary entries in a sketchbook, revisited multiple times until images clarify themselves and find their way into a painting. Visions desiring to be abstractions, but unable to fully escape the subjective. Airplanes are vessels relating to the body and soul. Landscapes are internal. The desire to be an antenna — listening and translating.
I work in oil on panel and gouache on paper, using brushstrokes, scraping, wiping, spraying, and scratching. Mark-making carries the weight of trance-like moments, small decisions are allowed to accumulate.
Bio
Michael Saunders (b. 1986, New Jersey) is a Philadelphia-based painter working in a range of media and scale. He received his BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2013.
His work has been shown predominantly in Philadelphia, New York, and Florida, including at DUDD HAUS, Blah Blah Gallery, Big Ramp, 5-50 Gallery, Watercolour Society, Florida State College at Jacksonville, and Florida Mining.
He has received the Illuminate the Arts Grant from Creative Philadelphia (2024, 2025).
b. 1986, NJ
lives & works in Philadelphia, PA
Solo Exhibitions
2025, DUDD HAUS, Philadelphia, PA
2023, Bold Bean, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Two-Person Exhibitions
2025,Open Studio Show, Crane Arts, Philadelphia
2023,Time.After | Time | After.Time, Kent Gallery – Florida State College at Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL
2022,Outer Liminal Non Space, Bold Bean, Jacksonville, FL
Group Exhibitions
2026
- Boys Boys Boys, Blah Blah Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- Trading Cards 3, Watercolour Society, NYC
2024
- The Sublime is Meow, Big Ramp, Philadelphia, PA
- Now, One With Everyone!, Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia, PA
- EXTRA EXTRA at THE ORANGE, Watercolour Society, Brooklyn, NY
2023
- Twisted Toons, 5-50 Gallery, NYC
- CMND/CTRL, Heiress Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
- Florida Mining Gallery, Jacksonville, FL
2022
- betwixt and between, curated by Trinity Lester & Cary Hulbert, Project Gallery V, NYC
- Cafe Volan, Asbury Park, NJ
Awards & Nominations
2025, Illuminate the Arts Grant, Creative Philadelphia, City Council Philadelphia
2024, Illuminate the Arts Grant, Creative Philadelphia, City Council Philadelphia
2023, Selected Artist, White Columns Curated Artist Registry, WhiteColumns.org, NY
2013, Art & Design Award, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University
Education
2013, BFA – Visual Arts, Painting, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ