Using reconfigured forms and elements, I want to provoke interpretation and engage the viewer in a dialog. I structure my visual and sculptural assemblages with a studied aesthetic based on proportions, balance and control.
My artwork strongly reflects my architectural background. Exploration of materials, especially in unexpected applications, is the hallmark of modernist architecture, whose rigorous disciplines have never left me. The transparency and translucency of glass, its luminescence, depth and tactile nature provide a unique and pliable medium. I enjoy exploring the sculptural aspects of glass and delving into the nuances that distinguish it from other materials.
As I strive to translate ideas and concepts, taken many times from found objects, life experiences and popular culture, I often combine them with text to provide clues to content and meanings. As in old blueprints, the images and words are equal in importance; written information crosses over or lines up as soldiers in formation. In my work, text adds to the visual composition, and evokes wandering through thoughts and memories.
Michael Janis
Cannot Undo
Cannot Undo (detail)
The Sky Above the Clouds
Unlearning History
Her Best Interest
Personal DreamTime (detail)
Liar Paradox
The Submergence of Ophelia
Teller of Stories (though not his own)
The Confidence of Men
.Night Lets No One Know
Self Portrait (I Am Not My Thoughts)
The Unspoken Word
I Could Touch the Young Heart of You
The Perfect Accessory
Amnesiac
The Memory of Water
The Consequence of Her Act
Fate, Chance and Luck
Luck (detail)
Living between Luck and Fate
The Fall of Icarus
