Michael Rohner

“I lay down a graphite underdrawing, then render with Copic pigmented ink, on Arches watercolor paper. My color process varies: I largely use watercolor to flesh out the animals and flowers, occasionally texturing with gouache, oil pastel, acrylic marker, etc… The background can either also be finished with water color or I’ll create a temporary mask over the principal figures, then lay down a flat spray painted background and remove the mask. Finishes are added with pigmented marker and acrylic marker.

My artistic lens was honed from a very early age, as a result of a colorful family background. As an American with immigrant parents from both Korea and Switzerland, I grew up watching the dynamic of a mother and father from diametrically opposed cultures. Furthering my textured upbringing was being raised as the youngest of four children and as the only boy in the family. I grew to appreciate the balance needed to even out life’s extremes, and I learned to recognize the grey areas in any situation.

To me, at our cores, we are all more similar than different.
Whether through humor, social critique, a bearing of my soul, or imagery through the abstract, I do my best to convey my thoughts and feelings visually in a way that words cannot always express. In the process, I hope to create something that might add to someone’s day or uplift a person spiritually and emotionally or perhaps bring light to darkness. If my art is capable of a fraction of that, then I am at peace with my passion.”