Michael Markowitz

Originally from New York City, 53-year-old Michael Markowitz has been drawing and teaching since the early 1990s. For the past 12 years he has taught at one of the largest private drawing studios in the San Francisco Bay Area, attended weekly by more than 100 artists. "The essence of what I teach, and the context out of which my work is created," he says, "focuses on process vs. product. It is about the struggle to engage experience in as pure and intense a way as possible, freed of preconception, formula, habit, and intention." Markowitz's drawings shown here depart from his usual style of drawing from the figure. They are inspired by Rilke's "Second Elegy," in particular the line "Every angel is terrible." Markowitz observes, "It seems so odd to say every angel is terrifying-almost like an antispiritual statement-but I think Rilke is talking about the truth embodied in what an angel represents. That kind of spiritual purity manifested in the material is something that does threaten us."

Find more on Michael Markowitz at www.users.interport.net/m/c/mcm.dnai/ and www.askart.com (search for artist under "M").

Angel #1, 2002, by Michael Markowitz. Charcoal, pastel, and pigment on paper.

Angel, 2002-2003, by Michael Markowitz. Charcoal, pastel, and pigment on paper.

Detail of Angel, 2002-2003, by Michael Markowitz. Charcoal, pastel, and pigment on paper.

Detail of Angel, 2002-2003. By Michael Markowitz. Charcoal, pastel, and pigment on paper, 48" x 52".