Instagram story viewer> @mclbrsl> Posts

M I C H A E L B R U S S E L

@mclbrsl

22.2K

followers

2572

following

Painter / Architectural Designer
Syracuse, NY

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Here’s the first series of paintings I did after graduating from architecture school.

I wanted to start over, to forget everything I thought I knew about painting so far. I wanted to learn about the “Nature of Painting” by beginning at what I thought to be the very beginning. I wanted to develop my own style, a style that I felt like was within the Nature of Paint.

I began with the idea that no individual painting mattered—that the purpose of each painting was only to help me continue to develop a way of painting.

Paintings 1 - 12 out of what is now 34:

1 Pull of the Unknown — 01.2024
2 Cup of Reality — 02.2024
3 Memory Pancakes — 03.2024
4 The Limitation of Recency Bias — 05.2024
5 I Never Need Many But I Always Need One — 05.2024
6 Consequences of Doubt — 05.2024
7 The Man Who Pulled Bread From The Air — 06.2024
8 Acquisition of Value — 06.2024
9 Flow State — 07.2024
10 Delicate Moment — 09.2024
11 Overwhelming Association — 09.2024
12 Flow State II — 09.2024

Every painting in this series began with an idea for a composition. The ideas came from conversations I had with friends, from books recommended by strangers, from live music and movies, from a weekend in New York, from memories of riding in the back seat in my dad’s car, from an old hat I found in the back of my closet.

Every composition is an arrangement of simple geometry that represents a universal aspect of the human condition.

In the next series, which I did in 2025, I stopped using metaphorical geometry. I stopped beginning paintings with a composition already in mind. I started with nothing except for the ways of painting I developed during the making of this series, and started working toward things I couldn’t have planned.

#painting #process #geometry #art #abstract by @mclbrsl

3

8

a day ago

Gravity is FELT, not SEEN. by @mclbrsl

3

4

4 days ago

paintings about molecular biology, about the building blocks of the universe, about what’s under the microscope

paintings about architecture, about building systems, about solid foundations, about structures that defy gravity, withstand the forces of nature, and emit the energy that was required for their creation

paintings about music, about rhythm, about all the colors of sound arranging in perfect harmony

paintings about painting, about the brush stroke, about dripping and splattering and layering and sliding off the end off the brush

paintings about humanity, about recording human action, about the will to record, to make a mark, to say:

I was here.

#painting #nature #music #art #harmony by @mclbrsl

3

5

8 days ago

the Spirit of Man is Lifted to the Sky by @mclbrsl

3

3

12 days ago

color palette, ordering system by @mclbrsl

3

3

15 days ago

This Saturday by @mclbrsl

3

16

20 days ago

This Saturday by @mclbrsl

3

8

20 days ago

This Saturday by @mclbrsl

3

2

20 days ago

Come join me at the opening reception for my show ‘Visual Language’, a solo exhibition of paintings and writings I’ve done over the course of the last two years.

Opening Reception:
Saturday, 19 September
6pm
Hamilton Center for the Arts
Hamilton, New York

📸: @jokeb

——

Language has rules, conventions, formatting requirements, restrictions… and yet provides us with limitless opportunity to communicate our feelings, and to inspire feelings in others.

Maybe there’s also a language of paint? A Visual Language, that also has rules, conventions, formatting requirements, restrictions… and yet also gives us infinite opportunity to inspire Feeling.

#art #painting #rules #language #feeling by @mclbrsl

3

6

a month ago

My show ‘Visual Language,’ opens Saturday (September 19) at Hamilton Center for the Arts in Hamilton, New York.

The opening reception will begin at 6pm with opening remarks shortly to follow.

Pictured here:
Window II, 2025
Acrylic and crayon on canvas
60 x 48 in taken in Hamilton, New York by @mclbrsl

3

4

a month ago

I’ll be in New York this weekend.

—

Window VIII. Acrylic and crayon on canvas. 60 x 48 in. 2025.

—

When I was a kid,
I would wipe the dew off the window on the bus,
look out,
and try to understand the world.

Now,
I wipe the fog off the mirror in the bathroom,
look in,
and try to understand myself. by @mclbrsl

3

2

a month ago

My show ‘Visual Language’ will be on view at Hamilton Center for the Arts in Hamilton, NY, beginning September 19.

Come join us for the opening reception:

Saturday, September 19
6pm - 7pm
Hamilton Center for the Arts
16 Broad Street
Hamilton, NY

—

How is it possible that scribbles on paper, grouped together in clusters of various sizes, and organized into evenly spaced lines, can elicit it in us so many powerful emotions?

How can so much feeling come out of a visual language so entrenched in order and bland monotony?

And yet we read, and write, and express ourselves, our feelings, our thoughts, our emotions, as we abide by the rigid rules of this visual language.

Is it possible that painting can function the same way? Another visual language, bound by rigid rules, yet still having limitless possibility to stir us, and bring us to the full extent of what we can feel. by @mclbrsl

3

4

a month ago