McCormick Gallery | Michael Hedges

Michael Hedges Hedges was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. While in high school he spent two years studying at the Art Institute of Chicago before going on to receive his B.A. in Studio Art from Loras College in Dubuque, IA in 1998. Since graduation from Loras, Michael has been exhibiting and selling his artwork throughout the Chicago-land area. In addition to gallery showings, pieces of Michael's work hang permanently in corporations through the Chicago-land area and Iowa and have sold into private collections. His paintings are a synthesis of color, line, form and texture. They begin as a problem of two or more color relationships to be explored through form. The form is loosely defined by a drawing that acts as a skeleton and ecto-skeleton both beneath and above the finished work. The application of the media to the painting surface is of utmost importance. The paint is applied with great bursts of energy, creating a surface that is supercharged with texture and color. He works in multiples, usually around 10 paintings at the same time, all centered on the original problem. This multiple approach allows Hedges to go in different directions, very quickly building the energy that is critical to a successful painting. Hedges strives to create intense, even and stunning color relationships that are balanced by form and texture into a controlled elegance. The challenge here is to create a vibration in the work that energizes it without separating.

Bookshelves #1, 2010
40 x 60 inches
oil on canvas
signed, dated and titled verso
#7977

Bookshelves #1, 2010
oil on canvas
40 x 60 inches
signed, dated and titled verso
#7977

Square One #29, 2011
oil on canvas
48 x 48 inches
signed, dated and titled verso
#8187

Square One #28, 2011
oil on canvas
48 x 48 inches
signed, dated and titled verso
#8186