About
the Artist
Michael Mahnke
Michael Mahnke was born in the small
farming community of Dodge, Nebraska. He attended
the University of Nebraska before moving to North
Carolina in the late 80's. There, influenced by the
beautiful coastal light and the changing sea, he developed
his style of organic color-filled painting. Landscape
and fluidity are at the heart of every work he creates.
After North Carolina, he decided
the appropriate rite of passage for an emerging artist
would be New York City. In New York, he attended Hunter
College, whose well-founded studio art program hosts
a pedigree of eminent abstract expressionist painters.
At Hunger, he studied with painter Emily Mason who
would become his mentor. It is now routine, that twice
every semester for the last eight years, Mahnke substitute
teaches Emily's Wednesday night painting class.
"It's not easy making art in
New York. There is always this feeling of being in
survival mode. Sometimes it is simply learning how
to exist in an environment so incredibly stimulating,
but also so rich in distraction. The byproduct is
the challenge of maintaining a connection and essential
dialogue with your work. But all this becomes a strange
motivation."
Mahnke currently lives and works
in the Chelsea district of New York City. He shares
the 11th floor of a building with Emily Mason. They
continue to mutually inspire and support one another.
