Michael Herring’s Artist Statement

The mixture of pain and humor in everyday life is completely fascinating to me.

My paintings are about characters who are either caught up in weird obnoxious situations or are in the process of creating intimidating situations.

I began drawing seriously while seeing and emulating the heavy metal album cover art of Derek Riggs (Iron Maiden) and Pushead (Metallica) in junior high school. My drawings became progressively more intense and active, and I eventually ended up at the Kansas City Art Institute, majoring in Illustration.

After graduation from art school in 2000, I spent 2 years in New York, where I became involved in web design. I have been working as a front-end web developer since then.

After a few years of not having any restrictions on my work and being able to afford sufficient materials, I’m now creating paintings I love and love to show.