Biography:
Born and raised in southeastern
Massachusetts, I began my formal study of art in 1984 at
the Massachusetts College of Art, majoring in printmaking
for four years. I gained an appreciation for process, but
found the medium too limiting. For a couple years, I took
leave from school to work in close collaboration with both
a filmmaker and a sound artist on various projects. With a
greatly expanded sense of self expression I returned to
Mass Art in 1990 for two years of study with the Studio for
Interrelated Media. During this period I studied
performance art and fine tuned my production skills.
After leaving Mass Art I went on to organize shows at
various spaces around Boston, including the Boston
Institute of Contemporary Art and Mobius Performance
Gallery. Simultaneously, I continued my study of art
history through intensive readings; focusing primarily on
Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Futurism and Dada. I continued
to paint while creating performance works and eventually
committed all my time and energy to painting.
In 1997 I took a short break from art-making while I
relocated to the Berkshires and quit smoking. When I
returned to the studio I found that the work I was making
had completely changed. With my wife, artist Monika
Pizzichemi, I co-founded the Empty Set Project Space in
Pittsfield, Ma during the summer of 2001. Through the early
years of Pittsfield’s cultural rebirth the gallery provided
a necessary meeting place for local artists. The former
gallery space now houses our studios where I continue to
work.
-Michael McKay 2009