Born in Melbourne, Australia, with a natural passion for the arts, Michael Schmeja was well aware from a young age that he was an artist. After completing his Diploma of Visual Art in 2000, and followed by the completion of a Bachelor of Fine Art, majoring in Drawing, at The Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne; Michael has continuously proven to be a passionate, hardworking and exhibiting artist.
The vibrantly creative city of Melbourne is where Michael developed as a young artist, creating and exhibiting works that were, and continue to be, based on the abstract. Oil paint, acrylic paint and mixed media are his primary means of expression. Michael has always had a passion for both the natural (often figurative) and architectural forms, which he utilizes to create his continuously developing style of multi-layered abstraction.
“It’s about both the unity and the conflict between the man made, and the natural form. Man takes over, and nature takes over” .
At times it’s the connection between the person or the natural and the urban environment, and at times it’s the disconnection.
More often than not, it’s a love of all physical form, and an attempt to unify them in one image.
With the use of transparency, he allows the viewer to see the initial image that may subtly lie beneath many; creating a story – a history of stratified mark-making.
During the three years spent practicing in Blender Studios and working among urban artists, Michael became heavily influenced by Melbourne’s dynamic street scene. It was the imagery of work over work; line over line that attracted him to this growing, creative epidemic in the city.
Upon arriving in Valencia, Spain, 2016, again he found himself working in an influential studio space – this time, alongside some of Valencia’s most recognized street artists. This is when he too, whilst continuing his work in the studio, created his urban alter ego, ‘Miguelito’, and began painting larger scale urban art, at times collaborating with European street artists and friends.
Michael continues to live and create in Valencia, with regular visits to his home and studio in Melbourne.
