Michael Kowbuz

My work is about looking – at the world through images of the world whether via reflections, photographs or the fog of memory. I articulate these visions through painting in oil and watercolor/mixed media.
My subjects arrive through my daily travels, when the aesthetic possibilities of ordinary places are suddenly made apparent, either due to some change in light or my state of mind. I’m more susceptible to these visions when my defenses are down. I capture these fleeting moments through photographs and develop them through painting. By allowing their essence to emerge over an extended time, mundane views of parking lots, car windows and reflective storefronts are transformed into something majestic and strange.
Photography is an important element in my work. Practically, photographs allow me to capture a fleeting instant, but often are integral to the work, especially my car paintings. I’m interested in the importance of this object to a person’s identity and the impulse to capture it in a photograph and cherish that long after the vehicle is gone. They become indirect portraits of people, and portals to the past allowing me to bring the past into the present and find connections between my experiences and the experiences of others.
My oil painting process is a painstaking one of building up small marks and is purposefully perverse – an act of quiet rebellion to the dominant forms of communication in our culture. Working in watercolor allows me to be more spontaneous and take more risks. With both, I seek to turn our mediated view of the world inside out, by taking a digitally generated view and transforming it into a something unique – a painting, with subtle qualities of color, light, temperature and texture, and asking the question “What is real?” 

Honda, ink, oil on canvas, 17.25" x 23.25" Available 

Nova, oil on canvas, 15.25" x 23.25" Available 

Camera 1, oil on canvas, 11" x 14"  Available 

Camera 2, oil on canvas, 11" x 14"  Available 

Camera 3, oil on canvas, 11" x 14"  Available 

Locomotive (GG-1), crayon-stone lithograph, 9.75" x 13.5"  Available 

Loading Dock, etching ink on paper, 14" x 16"  Available 

Lower Level, etching ink on paper, 14" x 16"  Available 

Vending Area, etching ink on paper, 14" x 16"  Available 

Reflection of Things to Come, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches,  5.5" x 6.75" Available  

Ringgold, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 9.25" x 6"  Available 

Parking Lot Sky 1, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 8" x 10.5"  Available 

Parking Lot Sky 2, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 8" x 10.5"  SOLD 

Windshield, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 6.5" x 10.5"  Available 

Rear Window, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 6" x 10.25"  Available 

Side Window, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 8" x 10.5"  Available 

Ice Box, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 8" x 10.5"  SOLD  

Highway Moon, ink, watercolor, gouache on Arches, 11" x 9"  SOLD