Michael Bauer (Erkelenz, 1973) lives and works in New York.

The amorphic, animalistic forms of German painter Michael Bauer are built upon color washes, meandering lines, and bulbous protrusions. Utilizing a variety of rendering techniques and materials, including pointillism, text and high-chroma colors, Bauer transforms his free-form compositions into dynamic and ornamented abstractions. He borrows from the colorful tradition of Modernist composition, juxtaposing collaged cutouts with a bevy of 20th century painting methodologies to make the swirling paintings he’s become known for.

In Bauer’s paintings, the spectator’s eye and mind work together in order to distinguish and rebuild hidden shapes: hands, feet and several anatomical details, faces, boots, gloves, tubes and other objects emanate living impressions and release smells and liquids.