Meet the Artist – Michael Golub
Written by Joose Hadley - from “100% Joose”
Imago Magazine-October Issue
Michael Golub is an unusual artist as artists go. Almost every
stereotype which could be applied to artists in general just doesn’t
stick with Michael. If one plotted the individuals of such a diverse
group on a bell curve, he would most likely place on the end with
the “over-achievers” and the “type-A’s”;
the end where goals are achieved and life is good.
Michael is an artist who also happens to be a lawyer. He got
his J.D. Law degree at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale
in 1990 and works as an Attorney and Certified Family Law Mediator
in Orlando. When asked about how he felt about supporting his
art with another career, he replied, “Painting is just something
I need to do for some reason to complete the picture. I’m
happy that I don’t need to think about whether anyone will
buy a painting when I paint it. I do love to sell them, of course.
But “sale-ability” is not a consideration when I paint.
I don’t know if I would enjoy painting as much if I had
to rely on it to support myself. I’ve seen so much art that
is really bad done by people that are in that position. I don’t
want to be one of them.”
As a child Michael doodled, but growing up in Florida, he was
never really exposed to the art world until he went off to college.
While at USF he took a few art classes: drawing, sculpture and
two painting classes …”just enough not to ruin me.”
“I never felt the need to have a degree in art to validate
myself as an artist. I just decided that I was. It was a very
spontaneous thing. I don’t ever remember feeling like a
beginner …I just had this instant confidence that I never
had with anything else.”
That is when the addiction began. He began painting “hardcore”
and his first show was in 1989 at The Temporary Contemporary Art
Museum of Orlando, Pine Castle Center for the Art, with the “Blue
Print Group” in the Orlando area.
At that time he also founded the “Blue Earth Society”
a small group that showed in both galleries and alternative venues.
And in 1994 they opened their online gallery, www.blueearthsociety.com.
Michael has a life full of the human experience. He lives in
Tavares, a small town about 30 miles north of Orlando, where he
and his wife Rachel who is also an artist raise their three children,
Benjamin, Zoë, and Zara along with 4 cats, 2 dalmations and
3 horses. His children are constantly in the studio. “I’m
so happy that I can expose my children to real art at an early
age. It’s really cool that they think it’s the norm.”
He has been influenced by abstract expressionist artists like
Willem DeKooning and Hans Hoffman, as well as the “James
Dean” of art, the controversial Jean Michel Basquait.
Music icons from Charlie Parker to Miles Davis and John Coltrane
join in the mix when Michael paints. And of course, his interests
in skateboarding and surfing can be seen in the motion and rhythms
of his work.
Michael’s statement:
“I paint because I have to. I am compelled. It is the thing
I need to do in order to live. Not merely on a human level, but
on the next level. Art is my religious practice. It is all about
the ritual to me. The ritual of creation, which connects me to
God, to my higher self, to all things."
"As artists we do what God does, we create. Through the
process we praise the whole Universe, and connect, and we are
transported to painless void where time and space are of no relevance.
The artistic end product is of equal importance for it is the
recording of the ritual, and the embodiment of the spirit. It
is the essence of the world of the unseen brought into the world
of the seen. When I do this it is essential to me for work to
have its own solidarity. Art should be free to exist on its own
without reference to anything else. Real art does not need to
represent or symbolize in order to validate itself. “
Michael Golub’s will be on display until November 4 at Great
Art & Frame Gallery, 9906 W. Linebaugh Ave., Tampa, 33626.
(813) 792-8960
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