About the Artist

Michael’s lifelong love of art was sparked during his childhood in Beverly Hills, California where he painted alongside his mother and two aunts, all three of whom were accomplished oil painters. Eventually, he moved from painting to other mediums and won county-wide awards for his work in ceramics. Although he started college as an art major, Michael graduated from Stanford University with a BA in psychology, and proceeded to earn an MBA from UC Berkeley.

What followed was a long career in construction and real estate development in which Michael made extensive use of his artistic and design instincts. During this period, Michael continued to work as a fine artist, focusing on large-scale mosaic sculptures and assemblages, often using found objects. Then, in 2011, he circled back to painting. Interestingly, His partial color blindness predisposes Michael to appreciate saturated colors, and to use modern compensatory tools such color correcting glasses and Photoshop.

Since 2003, Michael has lived in Santa Barbara, California with his husband Steven, whom he met in 1981. There he designed and built their home, Pentimento.  The house is filled with Michael's paintings and a collection of antiques, all of which has been photographed for a book coming out in 2026.. 

Michael devotes himself to working in the dedicated art studio adjacent to the main house.  His paintings have been shown locally and regionally, recognized in juried exhibitions, and sought out by collectors. Not unlike the design for Pentimento, Michael’s paintings often include unusual juxtapositions, and tend to draw the viewer in, layer by layer. Whether as still lifes, portraits, abstracts, or landscapes the paintings reflect the depth and breadth of an artistic vision that is continuing to evolve.