Michael taught art in the NYS school system for 22 years taking an early retirement in 1990 to pursue his art on a full time basis. He has paints extensively in oil, watercolour, acrylic and pastel with over 1500 paintings in these media on the St. Lawrence River, the Adirondacks and southern Florida. Ringer has also created numerous Intaglio prints in etching and drypoint and cast over 500 bronzes of 15 sculptural works. His work has been published in eight books including five hardcover editions, is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the Artist in Residence for three sporting magazines. Michael hosted the successful Artists’ World with Host Michael Ringer, a national PBS series for three years on 160 stations with a viewing potential of one hundred million. He has had numerous one man shows including those at the Frederic Remington Museum, the Antique Boat Museum, Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Cumming Nature Center, Old Forge Center for the Arts, Tannery Pond Arts Center and others. He was commissioned by the Antique Boat Museum and the Thompson Conservancy to create bronzes for special levels of commitment and his paintings and bronzes can be found in collections across the globe. Ringer’s work has appeared in numerous local, national and international magazines. His Collector’s Edition book of Adirondack Seasons is used by the Adirondack Museum as a special fund raiser. Michael has an AAS degree in Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology, a BFA & Masters in Fine Art Education from the University of Buffalo. He has also studied Intaglio printmaking at SUNY at Potsdam. He credits these institutions and a lifetime of experience working as a professional painter, sculptor and print maker.
There are four aesthetics in art. Realism, Expressionism, Surrealism and Abstraction. As a painter or as a collector you owe it to yourself to have a basic understanding of each aesthetic even if you feel you don’t necessarily enjoy or understand one or more of them. They are as follows:
Realism includes any types of art that we can easily recognize the subject and images depicted. Impressionism and Photo Realism are two examples of styles or schools within Realism but there are many more. Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Edgar Degas, Vincent VanGogh, Claude Monet´, Tom Thomson were all realist artists even though all of their styles are quite different.
Expressionism is the use of recognizable forms that are distorted or exaggerated to create an emotional response. An example of this is Expressionist painter Edvard Munchs, The Scream. We can easily recognize the picture as someone in great distress with the fluid elongated arms, bulging head and over size mouth screaming. It is clearly a person in great distress and the distress is emphasized by the distortions in anatomy, background and color, the use of Expressionism. Alexei Jawlensky, James Ensor, Vasilij Kandinski, Bourdelle and sculptor Emile Antoine are some other Expressionist painters.
Surrealism also deals with objects we can easily recognize but they are doing things or placed in situations that are intended to shock and astound us. Salvador Dali is probably the best known of the Surrealists but there were many and each with a different style and type of imagery. Dali’s melting clocks are a good example of Surrealism. Other Surrealist painters include Yves Tanguy, Rene´Magritte, Joan Miro. Sometimes referred to as Fantasy art.
Abstraction is the use of color, light, form, line and texture to explore space and forms and how they relate to each other. Two styles within Abstraction (there are many) include Cubism and Neoplasticismy. Recognizable objects sometimes appear in abstract art. Pablo Picasso, Clifford Still, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko and a other Abstract painters. Absracts will sometimes give you the feeling of a landscape, still life or some other form of more familiar image.
The definitions above act only as a guide. Within any of the Aesthetics there numerous interpretations and there is no hard and fast rule saying that one aesthetic cannot overlap another. Indeed they often do and sometimes it becomes difficult to categorize a specific style and where its placement should be. Abstract forms often appear in realistic paintings and recognizable objects may appear in abstracts. There is no limitation on the creative ability of a person to express themselves and their titles are sometimes confusing like, Abstract Expressionism.
What is clear is this. The better an artist or collector understands each aesthetic the better he or she will be able to create or enjoy the type of art the create or possess. The same applies to the collector and their appreciation of art. It is a very simple principle. The better your understanding of anything, the better you are able to express yourself or appreciate its beauty.
