2022
American artist Michele Mikesell incorporates elements of Pop art, Surrealism and Expressionism into her eclectic works and creates a unique visual experience for the viewer. Her figurative paintings and portrait paintings depict figures that seem to be peering out at and contemplating anyone within a stone’s throw of the works. In Mikesell’s subjects’ faces, the influence of the 17th-century Dutch masters is also detectable, while her abstract paintings are marked by the influence of postwar Abstract Expressionist painters.
Mikesell was born in Alabama in 1973. She earned her BFA at Texas Woman's University, Denton, in 2002, where she minored in graphic design. In 2004, Mikesell earned her MFA at the University of Oklahoma before moving to Dallas to begin her artistic career. It didn't take long for her to begin turning heads. Dallas-based DECORAZON Gallery, located in the city's historic Bishop Arts District, started representing her in 2006.
When Mikesell begins to work on a piece in her studio, she is unhurried, allowing each project to unfold before her by reacting to the marks in the paint. Many of her paintings are of human figures with whom viewers may feel a sense of familiarity, while other works feature anthropomorphic animals or petroglyphs meant to function as metaphors for the dichotomy of animal instincts and human ideas. Mikesell also draws inspiration from mythology: The Morrigan (2017), for example, is based on a powerful figure from Irish folklore.
Mikesell has exhibited at many art fairs around the world, including SCOPE Art Show, London Art Fair, Aqua Art Miami and the Asia Contemporary Art Show in Hong Kong. She had a solo exhibition at the Ardmore Museum of Art in Oklahoma, and her work is held in numerous private and corporate collections and has been featured in publications like Juxtapoz magazine.
Find original Michele Mikesell paintings on 1stDibs.
"Mis en Scene", Oil on canvas, surreal portrait master
By Michele Mikesell
Located in Dallas, TX
MICHELE MIKESELL b. 1973, Alabama, USA In 2002, Michele Mikesell earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in graphic design from Texas Women's University in Denton, TX. Mikesel...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Fylgia, animal figurative portrait, mysterious and whimsical oil painting
By Michele Mikesell
Located in Dallas, TX
MICHELE MIKESELL b. 1973, Alabama, USA In 2002, Michele Mikesell earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in graphic design from Texas Women's University in Denton, TX. Mikesell completed her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 2004. “Creating individuals is what I find most interesting in the studio. It is my hope that these portraits will be familiar characters to the viewer, subjects we recognize and identify with. My work consistently travels along a general vein of the universal human experience. This particular group of paintings...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
"Arizona" - Surreal figurative narrative oil on canvas
By Michele Mikesell
Located in Dallas, TX
MICHELE MIKESELL b. 1973, Alabama, USA In 2002, Michele Mikesell earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in graphic design from Texas Women's University in Denton, TX. Mikesel...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Agathodaemon, Oil on canvas, mysterious and whimsical pop art portrait master
By Michele Mikesell
Located in Dallas, TX
MICHELE MIKESELL b. 1973, Alabama, USA In 2002, Michele Mikesell earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in graphic design from Texas Women's University in Denton, TX. Mikesell completed her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 2004. “Creating individuals is what I find most interesting in the studio. It is my hope that these portraits will be familiar characters to the viewer, subjects we recognize and identify with. My work consistently travels along a general vein of the universal human experience. This particular group of paintings...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Kore of Lyons by Michele Mikesell, Oil on canvas, pop figurative painting
By Michele Mikesell
Located in Dallas, TX
Kore of Lyons is a stunning pop figurative painting by Michele Mikesell. Using oil on canvas, the figure is abstractly painted with a bright color palette. MICHELE MIKESELL b. 1973,...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Dakini, Oil on canvas, mysterious and whimsical pop art portrait master
By Michele Mikesell
Located in Dallas, TX
MICHELE MIKESELL b. 1973, Alabama, USA In 2002, Michele Mikesell earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in graphic design from Texas Women's University in Denton, TX. Mikesel...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Gisela - Abstract Expressionist Contemporary Figurative Portrait Painting
By Erin Hammond Caswell
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Erin Hammond is a contemporary abstract expressionist artist whose free-form paintings capture the essence of her inner, subjective realities. With a vibrant palette and dynamic mark...
Canvas, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
Thoughtfulness - XXI century, Figurative Mixed Media Painting, Female Portrait
By Paulina Maksjan
Located in Warsaw, PL
PAULINA MAKSJAN (born in 1982) She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk under the guidance of prof. Maciej Świeszewski at the Faculty of Painting and prof. Maria Targońska a...
Canvas, Mixed Media
31-1-21, 21st Century, Contemporary, Portrait Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Montse Valdés
Located in Barcelona, Catalonia
“I paint the human figure and explore further till I reach the Beauty of Being, the Soul.. the part of Human Being where everything is in total Serenity, Goodness and Harmony, where ...
Mixed Media, Oil, Wood Panel
Genevieve - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Portrait Painting, Oil
By Ger Doornink
Located in Barcelona, Catalonia
Ger Doornink signed "Genevieve" on the back of the canvas, to keep the balance of the composition on the front. Please see images or ask us for more! The Dutch multidisciplinary ar...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Genevieve - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Portrait Painting, Oil
By Ger Doornink
Located in Barcelona, Catalonia
The Dutch multidisciplinary artist, Ger Doornink, specialises in painting, illustration and photography. Time spent living in Tokyo, Milan and currently Amsterdam, has heavily influe...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Unidentified Humans IV, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Aldo Cherres
Located in Yardley, PA
Unidentified Humans series started as an experiment with digital tools and evolved into oil paintings. The story came upon while working on some faces from imagination and developed ...
Oil
