Michie Long

Growing up in the high desert of southwest Texas, Michie Long could always see to the horizon in every direction. When he began painting in oils at age fourteen, these early impressions of empty landscapes and vast unknowns became elemental to his compositions.

Michie Long explores in the space beyond the picture plane,” writes a curator. “His canvases are the creations of a Minimalist: rich, jewel-toned backdrops of lonely rolling plains, desultory mountains, infinite blue skies, and more recently, somnambulistic seas, all lit by mysterious light emanating from some identifiable source. They are simultaneously poignant and puzzling, encompassing a sense of broad, binocular perspective.”

In another body of paintings, Long mines a magical, mythical terrain of his own invention. Here Michie dons the hat of an Intimist to express deeply personal and psychological material. Says Michie of these canvases: “The forms are archetypes but not by design or intention. For me they are compositional expressions of emotions and feelings.”

Long moved to California in 1970 to study at the Carmel Art Institute. He has resided on the Monterey Peninsula ever since and was juried into the Carmel Art Association in 1985.

Sign Up to Receive Our Monthly What’s New Email