Michael Lam is an internationally acclaimed Chinese-born New York artist that manages through his vibrant work to bridge the gap between eastern and western culture. His work is deeply rooted in his memories and experiences as he grew up in China, where he made his first contact with one of the most intriguing parts of their visual culture, calligraphy. This early life experience marked the beginning of Lam’s successful career, the basis for his current artistic structure that has eastern foundations and that he expresses in a more westernized manner. Lam’s art has often been referred to as representing a “New York Line” due to his excellent line technique.

These traditional roots are transformed into an artistic expression relevant to our days by the Lam who is now operating in a contemporary context, reevaluating the way that the origins of any culture can have an impact on our society. Calligraphy is a practice venerated in China, a tradition going back thousands of years and in a way it combines artistic expression with actual writing. This way of performing just a few strokes with a brush (or even a single one) and managing to create a symbol that has not just a crude meaning but an aesthetic value corresponding to its purpose as well, is something which is genuinely fascinating and indeed can be correlated with contemporary art.

“Genesis – Let There Be Light”

Michael Lam also has a series of artworks that derive from the same technical roots but at some crucial points take a different route, thus having their personal existence. It is his work around the single stroke, a technique which is not only aesthetically pleasant but also demands a high degree of concentration and is extremely virtuosic when practiced with mastery. It is an unforgiving technique, as the artist is not allowed any mistake on the given artwork. One needs to be at the same time calm, bold, decided and elegant to have an extremely high degree of control over the brushstroke, a brushstroke that considers at the same time pressure, direction, rhythm, and movement. The outcome might initially be mistaken as the result of “just a few seconds,” but it is the work of years or even decades concentrated in a fraction of the time.

Lam manages to create something fresh and unique which further expands his symbol-based work of calligraphy and becomes a window into the abstract spiritual mind. One can follow the path of the hand as it traversed through the paper in a way reminiscent of the mid 20th-century action painting movement. Lam approaches the subject with elegance and, unlike action painting, power is constrained and controlled, creating bursts that are carefully positioned and defined. Thus once again the viewer is an integral part of the interpretation of the artwork as one needs to experience these paintings as stamps of time and space that indicate concepts proposed by the artist. Once such a connection has been established, one might find these single brushstrokes to hide layers upon layers of delicate features that orchestrate with precision an approach to the desired topic.

“Rise”

In 2016 Michael Lam’s philanthropic efforts were recognized. For his significant contribution and devotion to promoting global peace through his works of art, ArtTour International Magazine presented the title of “ATIM Messenger Of Peace” to Lam through the “Create 4 Peace”. A program created by ArtTour International Magazine to reduce the transgenerational transmission of pain and suffering, utilizing art to impact the imagination and creativity of people to transmit love, peace, and personal responsibility.

Michael Lam is a storyteller evoking passion, peace, inner truth and connecting us all to higher levels of consciousness through his art.

michaellamny.com

Filed Under: FEATURED ARTISTS, SPECTRUM MIAMI 2016

Tagged With: 2016, feature artists, Michael Lam

About Viviana Puello

Founder & Art Director of the ATIM and also the creator of the ATIM TV Channel and the "ART 2 HEART" Interviews.

She directs the operations together with Executive Director Alan Grimandi and with the help of our team. Viviana is the person who supervises the content of our magazine to make sure we meet our standards. She also directs all marketing strategies with the help of our publicists, marketing managers, advertisers and social media managers.

Contact via e-mail vp@arttourinternational.com.

Phone (800) 807–1167 Ext 107

광주신문  gjilbo2001@hanmail.net

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