It has been long since I read something that I feel is close to my own practice and how I feel about paper, drawing, my work, the world and my footprint on matter. And here is what Michael says:
"I went to paper after rethinking Thoreau’s Economy and reading about sustainability in From Cradle to Cradle.
I decided to work smaller because we live in an era when dumb things are getting larger (televisions, SUVs, McMansions) and smart things are getting smaller (smart phones, smart cars, smart cards). The generation behind me has been described as “platform agnostic”, meaning they’re willing to watch a cinematic wonder like Lawrence of Arabia on a palm-sized screen. I also prefer the face-to-face engagement that smaller works require—that is the modern interface.
I work exclusively in black and white because I like absolute contrast, and participating in the larger, global tradition of monochromatic painting.
I acknowledge that paper is the perfect surface.
I have come to loathe the wealthy and prefer to make high quality works more cheaply that anyone might afford.
I have become bored with the “grand manner” of painting and its heroic trappings. I felt that my most recent paintings were really drawings masquerading as paintings. Lastly, I’ve always been attracted to simpler, not minimal, more direct means of making art.
I have long maintained that if the artist isn’t surprising himself, he’s most likely not surprising anyone else."