michaelsaunderspainting@gmail.com
Michael Saunders (b. 1986, New Jersey) is a painter based in Jacksonville, FL, who recently returned to the South after a few years in Philadelphia, PA. Working across media and scale, he makes paintings and drawings that are personal, abstracted visions, such as ghosts and airplanes as substitutes for the body and soul, and landscapes that represent internal experience. His work is built through layered, gestural mark-making in oil, encaustic, gouache, and charcoal. He received his BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2013.
His work has been exhibited primarily in Philadelphia, New York, and Florida, including presentations with DUDD HAUS, Blah Blah Gallery, Big Ramp, 5-50 Gallery, Watercolour Society, Florida State College at Jacksonville, and Florida Mining. Upcoming exhibitions include HERMITAGE_PHL (Philadelphia, October 2026) and Field of Play (New York, November 2026).
Saunders received Creative Philadelphia’s Illuminate the Arts Grant in 2024 and 2025.