Michael Rees is an American artist practicing

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

making,

installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...

, animation, and

interactive computing In computer science, interactive computing refers to software which accepts input from the user as it runs. Interactive software includes commonly used programs, such as word processors or spreadsheet applications. By comparison, non-interactive ...

. He has exhibited his works widely, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1995

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

, 2001 Bitstreams Exhibition);

Bitforms gallery bitforms gallery is a gallery in New York City devoted to new media art practices. It was founded in 2001 by Steven Sacks, and represents established, mid-career, and emerging artists critically engaged with new technologies. In September 2014, b ...

Universal Concepts Unlimited Universal Concepts Unlimited (UCU) was a pioneering art gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City that investigated the artistic merit of new technologies based on the emerging digital art scene. UCU existed between the years 2000 and 2006. It ...

, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT (Putto Large and Moving 2004, Pop Surrealism 1998, Best of Season 2001), The MARTa Museum,

Herford Herford (; nds, Hiarwede) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford (district), Herford. Geography ...

, Germany (Putto 4 over 4 2005), and The

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. With a $5 million annual budget and approximately 75,000 visitors each year, it is Missouri's first and largest contemporary museum. Founders The core of the museum's perm ...

, Kansas City, MO (Putto 2x2x4 permanent installation of sculpture and animation). He has experimented with a broad practice that includes performance, interactive computer programs (the sculptural user interface), digital modeling and fabrication, animation, and video. Rees' work with digital media has been written about and illustrated in books, articles, and catalogues for exhibitions. His talk at the

Rothko Chapel The Rothko Chapel is a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas, founded by John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art: on its walls are fourteen paintings by Mark Rothko in v ...

, Houston, Texas is also published.

Education and teaching

Michael Rees was born in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, Missouri. He studied at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

for 2 years with the social realist painter Alton Pickens. He transferred to the

Kansas City Art Institute The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private art school in Kansas City, Missouri. The college was founded in 1885 and is an accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and Higher Learning Commission. It has approxi ...

and worked with the installation artist Dale Eldred and the ceramics sculptor Jim Leedy. He graduated in 1982. He traveled to Germany in 1983-84 on a Deutscher Akademischer Austauchdienst (

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD (german: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was founded in 1925 and is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. Organisation ''DAAD'' is a ...

) award to study with

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

and

Gunther Uecker Gundaharius or Gundahar (died 437), better known by his legendary names Gunther ( gmh, Gunther) or Gunnar ( non, Gunnarr), was a historical king of Burgundy in the early 5th century. Gundahar is attested as ruling his people shortly after they ...

. In 1989 he graduated from Yale University in Sculpture where he studied with David Von Schlegal, Irwin Hauer, Vito Acconci, Alice Aycock, Frank Gehry and others. He met and worked with other artist's at Yale including

Matthew Barney Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...

, Katie Schimert, and Michael Grey and wrote an article about it Rees, Michael, Yale Sculpture, vol. 26 no. 170 Flash Art, May/June 1993 Rees teaches about sculpture and digital media at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

. He has taught at Oberlin College, The Kansas City Art Institute, Washington University in St. Louis, New York Institute of Technology, and Rutgers University.

Fellowships, honors, awards and grants

*2008 Rockefeller Grant, Media Arts Fellow of the Tribeca Film Institute. *2007 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship recipient *2002

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

Grant *1999

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

for the exhibition Artificial Sculpture. *1999 Charlotte Street Fund Award for emerging artists.

References

External links

William Patterson University bio

Michael Rees, artist
Documentary produced by

NJTV NJ PBS (known as NJTV prior to 2021) is a public television network serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. The network is owned by the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority (NJPBA), an agency of the New Jersey state government which owns the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rees, Michael Living people 20th-century American sculptors William Paterson University faculty American digital artists Postmodern artists New media artists American installation artists Robotic art Postmodernists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American sculptors