STATEMENT
Michael Molly’s recent work depicts the emotions inspired by his thoughts, experiences, observations, and beliefs. The theme of each painting is expressed by starting with an abstract base layer, on top of which are translucent layers, each layer looking at a different aspect of the subject.
In this work and much of his previous work, Molly is absorbed with seeing composition as depth of field—a way to uses shapes and/or images so that they relate to each other as layers on top or underneath, instead of only right, left, up and down on the surface of the canvas.
In Michael Molly’s round abstract work and the paper studies for them, he uses the same approach of translucent layers. In these paintings he spatters paint in layers to explore energy. The energy of various metaphysical transformations is conveyed in the themes of the seven 5’ round works painted in 2002. The abstractions painted in ‘03, ‘04 and ‘05, examine the energies of natural phenomena or Mother Nature.
The body of work completed in the late 1990s is representational (scenic), interwoven with abstraction. These paintings express the artist’s perception of the subject’s underlying nature and surrounding environment—such as moods, seasons, weather, light and time—and the emotional impact they create.
.BACKGROUND
Michael Molly’s paintings have been exhibited in galleries throughout the U.S., including the UCCS Gallery Colorado Springs, Colorado; Cranbury Station Gallery in Princeton, New Jersey; Gallery 323 in Palm Beach, Florida; the Genest Gallery in Lambertville, New Jersey; Lappin Paoli and Art Gotham Gallery in New York City. In addition, Molly’s work is in corporate and public collections throughout the United States and abroad, including those of the New York City Fire Museum, Princeton University’s Tower Club, and Artbridge Ltd. In Yokohama, Japan. In 2004 he had work shown in the U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh as part of the State Departments Art in Embassies program. Articles about his paintings have been published in New York Newsday, the New Jersey Times, Art Matters and Palm Beach Today.