Collision of Gray Matter @ AFA Gallery

For Michael Alan, art is a combination of harmonious opposites, close observation, catharsis, a means of communication and a radical juxtaposition of dimensional elements. He challenges everything: concepts of figure, composition, media and movement, including the language of drawing. Exploring the ambiguity of time and history, Alan’s work focuses on translating energy into images.

Alan was born in the summer of 1977, in Bushwick during the New York City blackout.  His work has been featured in 9 New York solo shows, over 200 group shows, and over 200 Living Installations. His work has been discussed in over 200 publications, books and media sources, including the New York Times, The Huffington Post, Bomb Magazine, Art 21,  NBC’s Today Show, Marie Claire Italia, Frank 151, Art+Auction, the New York Post, Fox Channel 5, the Village Voice’s “Best in Show”, The Creator’s Project, Art Forum, the Gothamist, Time Out New York, Vice, Frame, American Artist, Animal, Hyperallergic, Curbs and Stoops,  Cacao and many more. In addition to his work as a multimedia artist, Alan is the founder and director of the Living Installation, where human beings are transformed into unique, living art objects.  These happenings are set to Alan’s original music, which is recorded featuring artists such as The Residents, Tommy Ramone, Ariel Pink, and Meredith Monk.

Crystal Wagner received her MFA from the University of Tennessee in 2008, her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 2004, and her AFA from Keystone College in 2002.  She is represented by Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, CA. After teaching as a college art professor for five years, Crystal left academia to focus exclusively on her studio practice.

Wagner’s interest in combining 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional forms, alternative use of materials, and hybrid approaches to printmaking, and massive site-specific installations, have led to her artwork being exhibited extensively in the U.S and abroad. Her most recent commissions include a large-scale installation for the internationally recognized band The Flaming Lips. a large shadow box for GNU a snowboard company out of Portland, OR, a large-scale installation piece for NIKE, presented in the Shrine Auditorium for The KOBE X Blackout Experience, and most recently two installations for Viacom, one of which is a 117 ft piece at their headquarters in Times Square.It was featured by the New York Times and was broadcast on national television on VH1’s Top 20 Countdown.

Currently you can find countless features on her work: New York Times, Architectural Digest, Artnet, Hi Fructose, Juxtapoze Magazine, Arrestedmotion.com, ArtAttacks Online, Art & Science Journal, Inspir3d.com, Complex Art & Design Magazine, Crome Yellow Magazine, Catapult Art Magazine, My Modern Met , Beautiful Decay Magazine and Dzinetripmagazine.com, many more. Recently he was the recipient of an Awesome Without Borders, Awesome Foundation Art Grant and the Sculpture and Installation Category Award Winner of the SEE.ME, Art Takes Paris, international art competition. In 2015 Crystal will be growing installations in Ne w York City, Nashville, Toronto, Tulsa, Syracuse, Knoxville among many others and will have work featured at multiple art fairs across the U.S. and abroad including Art Basel, Miami, Scope NY, NYC, Art Market San Francisco, Art Toronto, Love Art Fair, Toronto, Silicon Valley Art Fair, CA. In print you can find her features of her work this year published in Drawing Magazine Winter Issue 2015 release date Feb. 17th and in the Contemporary Paper Art Book, “Paper Art II” release 2015 and the international contemporary installation book, “Global Installations” published by International Publishing, Bliss Magazine June 2015 and was feature in a 13 page article in the Summer issue of Juxtapoz Magazine, 2015, Graffiti Art Magazine, 2016, Staf Magazine, 2016. Upcoming you can find her work published in Hi Fructose Magazine’s upcoming issue 2016. In 2015, she was awarded the highly coveted Pollock-Krasner Grant.