Michael Weiss

Michael Weiss was born in Brunssum Netherlands in 1991. He lives and works in Frankfurt Germany.

Weiss received his undergraduate and Master of Fine Arts (with honors) from Alanus University in Bonn Germany. Later he earned his second MFA from the New York Academy of Art where he received several merit-based scholarships as well as an artistic residency in Veracruz Mexico.

Weiss’s work is inspired by the Golden Age of Exploration as well as an admiration of American landscape artists. His art acts as living curiosity cabinets, or Wunderkammern, where each element in the composition is rooted in or inspired by existing natural beings or formations. Rather than isolating these elements, Weiss composes his pieces by combining the disparate objects into a single artwork. The result, painted in oil or gouache, is something that is familiar but presented in an unfamiliar way.

In addition to these fantastical compositions, Weiss has created a series of what he calls “Frankenstein Butterflies” in acrylic on panel. In nature, there exists a natural phenomenon where certain animals develop both male and female traits, in butterflies it can express itself in different sized and colored wings. Taking artistic license, Weiss has taken his butterfly paintings further than they occur in nature. However, the essential idea is a celebration of the various identities that occur in nature.

In his paintings, Weiss seeks to reconcile the tension between artistic expression and scientific objectivity. His art, through his compositions and reinterpretations, is not intended to be mere replications of nature but ultimately a self-reflection of our natural selves and surroundings.