Michael J. Abraham - Artist Statement

Exhibitions

2026 accepted into the Archway Gallery 18th Annual Juried Exhibition
"Bullrider" was selected by Juror is Donna Tennant who is a longtime art historian, art writer, and editor living in Houston, Texas. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Rochester and a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of New Mexico. Tennant served as the art critic for the Houston Chronicle in the early 1980s and as gallery director at Jeremy Stone Gallery in San Francisco and Sherry French Gallery in New York. During the 1990s, she served as an editor for Southwest Art, Houston Life, POLO Magazine, and Museum & Arts Houston Magazine. She has contributed articles and reviews to ArtLies, American Artist, ARTnews, New Art Examiner, and Houston Press, among others. Tennant also has written numerous catalog essays and has taught art history at the University of Houston–Downtown and Lone Star College. She currently writes for Arts & Culture Texas, Glasstire, and Visual Arts Source.

2024 accepted into the Archway Gallery 16th Annual Juried Exhibition
"Outsider" Awarded Third Place. Selected by Juror Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak

who completed undergraduate art studies at Kent State University, studied at the

Corcoran School of Art and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she moved to Houston in 1977, where she continues to live and work. An IREX grant enabled her to travel to Ukraine, her ancestral homeland, for the first time in 1991; five years later she visited the Chernobyl Zone. These trips marked turning points in her creative work and world view. Her current work continues to explore narrative and cultural metaphor by combining collage, text, and figuration. Since 1991, the artist has participated in several national and international exhibitions and been awarded artist residencies in France, Ukraine, and U.S. venues. Her work can be found in museum and university galleries and private collections in the USA, Canada and Europe. Notable US/Ukrainian collections include The Ukrainian Museum and The Ukrainian Institute of America in NYC, and The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago. A bi-lingual monograph about her art was published in 2005 in Kyiv.

Lydia was awarded a 2022-23 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for a project researching contemporary Ukrainian social/political art and presenting exhibitions of her own issues-oriented art in designated regions in Ukraine. Due to the war, her Fulbright Award was re-assigned to Poland. With the University of the Arts in Poznan as her host institution, she pursued a study of socially and politically informed art created by young artists born in Ukraine now living in Poland. Drawing on her experiences as artist, educator, and Ukrainian-American, she curated an exhibition of work by 8 Ukrainian artists, titled, “The Ties That Bind.” The artist has taught studio drawing and painting at the University of Houston and the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. For more information: www.LydiaBodnarBalahutrak.com

2024 Joint solo show entitled "Quasi Realism" at Reeves Art + Design along with internationally acclaimed artist David Pryor Adickes.

Juror Matt Reeves selected 38 works out of the 468 submitted for this show, on view Nov 5 - Dec 2, 2023.

Reeves Art + Design is the largest family-owned and operated Houston art gallery located in the historic Midtown/Montrose district of Houston, TX. Founded in 1969, we have been providing a quality selection of fine art for over 50 years. Now listed as one of Reeves artists.

2023 Accepted into the Visual Arts Alliance Houston 39th Open Juried Exhibition "No Zoning" was selected by Juror Heidi Vaughn who holds a Master's degree in Art History and is the gallerist at Heidi Vaughn Fine Art https://heidivaughanfineart.com. HVFA is a member of the International Society of Appraisers in Fine Art and the Houston Art Gallery Association.

E-mail comment from Juror: Dear Michael, "Thank you for the thank you! It’s a great work of art!" Best wishes, Heidi Vaughan

2022 Accepted into the Visual Arts Alliance Houston 38th Open Juried Exhibition by Juror Allison de Lima Greene is the curator of modern art at the Museum of Fine Art Houston.

2020 Accepted into the Archway Gallery 13th Annual Juried Exhibition
"Train Stopped" (below) was selected by Juror is Wayne Gilbert who has been a guest speaker at Bard College, Annandale on the Hudson, Rutgers University, and Texas Tech. He has curated exhibitions in Trujillo, Peru, Santiago, Cuba, Salwedel, Germany, Seattle, Washington, Marfa, Texas, and Arlington, Texas, to name a few.

2019 Awarded Honorable Mention - Archway Gallery 12th Annual Juried Exhibition " The Moment She Decided To Leave" (below) was selected by Juror is Wayne Gilbert.

Born in New York, I studied fine art at C.W. Post College and Buffalo State where collectors would visit my dorm room and purchase everything produced each week. I have spent over 25 years in the commercial graphic arts industry and am a third generation embroiderer.

I began oil painting in my early teens. Today I do both landscape and unique experimental abstract and statement work.

Working primarily in oil on canvas I have always pushed to innovate both in subject matter and color theory. Additionally, working in mixed media I incorporate various powders, foils, impasto textures, and embroidery.

Michael J. Abraham
"No Zoning"

Michael J. Abraham
"The Moment She Decided To Leave"

Michael J. Abraham
"Train Stopped"