Frank Norris Street (aka as Austin) and Polk
The Tenderloin
Mike Shine is an artist who lives and paints in Bolinas, California. With no formal art school training, his background instead includes fine woodworking, furniture and cabinet making: skills that often appear in his artwork. He typically creates using driftwood and found objects, and many of his works invite (and even require) the observer to handle and operate them, something he considers contrary to the sterile “please donʼt touch” world of museums and galleries.
For the last few years Mike has used painting to explore the metaphor of a childhood deal with the devil, recalled only through driftwood artifacts that he collects on the beach. In between surf sessions, Mike gathers this driftwood and slowly pieces together a dark memory. As a successful artist and family man, Mike suspects that the clown-devil of his childhood might be waiting to collect on an ancient pact. Drawing from mythological characters, nautical themes, and unconventional portraiture, Mike unfolds the memory of an event that may have foretold his adult life.
Mike Shine’s website is very unique and well worth a visit.
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Nicely detailed work! A bit of a dark edge to it.