Mike Childs

Mike Childs received his BFA from the University of Guelph, Canada and an MFA from Florida State University. He is the recipient of several awards including 2006 and 2020 Pollock-Krasner Grants and a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Award. At twenty-six, he received an award to live, paint and teach in Florence, Italy from Florida State University. His work has been exhibited nationally and is represented by David Richard Gallery. He has had numerous solo and two-person and maintains a studio in the south Bronx where he draws inspiration from the architecture. Recent exhibitions include The Bendheim Gallery (2021); The Bronx River Art Center (2020); David Richard Gallery (2020); ABC No Rio (2020); Wave Hill Gallery (2019); In 2020 during the Covid-19 crisis, Childs and artist Melissa Staiger created an eight-artist curatorial collective, Streaming, which premiered at the Stand 4 Gallery in 2021.

I am a Canadian artist who has worked in New York City since 1995. The major themes in my current paintings were developed while sketching as a young artist in Toronto. My early fascination with drawing architecture, construction, demolition and urban textures as subjects were born out of the enormous growth and development in Toronto at that time and formed my early concept of abstraction as a process. I continue to view painting as a construction site of ideas, like the city itself.

My process begins from a simple sketch, photo, or general idea that I often garner from books that I read, then become fully worked through on the canvas. Many of my recent works are parts of various ongoing series. I work in this manner to allow myself an open space to stretch out ideas without a definitive stopping point. In recent years, interests such as built forms in the insect world and the mutable nature of deteriorating structures focus my works on the color, texture, and line of both urban and natural environments. My painting is also fueled by my love of contemporary and historic art, and graffiti that I have access to in New York City. These drive my vision to always develop and change.

born Toronto, Canada

Lives in New York City

Solo Exhibitions

2021    ChaShaMa, Painting Works, New York, NY

2020    David Richard Gallery, New York, NY, curated by David Eicholtz

2019    Wave Hill, New York, curated by Jennifer McGregor

2017    Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY

2014    Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY

2012    Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY

2010    RHV Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY

2009    Lesley Heller, viewing room, New York, NY

2008    Heidi Cho Gallery, Solo show, New York, NY

2006    Lesley Heller Gallery, Solo show, New York, NY

2005    Cue Art Foundation, Solo Show, curated by Cameron Martin, New York, NY

Group Exhibitions

2021    Bendheim Gallery, Finding Our Way, curated by Tatiana Mori, Greenwich, CT

2021    Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY “Cutting an Edge: curated by Gail Nathon

2021    Spartanburg Art Museum, Formation, Spartanburg SC

2021    Site Brooklyn, online show “Shape and Form” curated by Hunter Drohojowska

2021    Stand 4 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Group show organized by Mike Childs and Melissa Staiger

2020    Cue Art Foundation New York, NY Fundraiser exhibition

2020    Stand 4 Gallery, Brooklyn NY “Streaming” organized by Melissa Staiger and Mike Childs

2020    ABC No Rio, New York NY “Speaking through masks” curated by Melissa Staiger

2019    Haas Contemporary, Reveal Art Fair, Saratoga Springs, NY

2019    Pierogi 2000, Flat Files, curated by Joe Armrhein, New York, NY

2019    Bronx Art Space, Benefit, New York, NY

2018    “A Quiet Place” Robert Henry Contemporary, 2 Person show with Nancy Cohen,          

                 Brooklyn, NY

2018    “Open Door” The Clemente Gallery, New York, NY

2017    Robert Henry Contemporary, Miami Pulse booth.

2017    “The Reality Of Abstraction”, Schelfhaudt Gallery, University of Bridgeport,

                curated by Peter Konsterlie

2014    “PreterNatural Selections”, curated by Robert Hubany, Leclerc Contemporary, CT

2012    “Small Truths”, L.I.C. 15 Gallery, curated by Joel Adas, Queens, NY

2012    “2 Abstract”, Hudson Beach Glass, two person show with Patricia Zarate,

               curated by Kirsten Kucer, Beacon, NY

2010    Group Booth, RHV Fine Art, Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY

2010    "abstrACTION", Artswestchester, curated by Dara Meyers-Kingsley, Whiteplains, NY

2007    “Urbane space”, 3rd Rail Gallery, Three person show, curated Peter Brauch,

               New Rochelle, NY

2006    Six Windows, Citicorp Building, New York, NY

2005    “Urban Legends”, Artek Contemporaries, Group Show, curated by Kathleen Cullen,

               New York, NY

2003    “Arch + texture”, Brooklyn Fireproof, Group Show, curated by Samantha Dorfman,

               Brooklyn, NY

2002    “Dancing in the Dark”, ALJIRA, Group Show, curated by Calvin Reid, Newark, NJ

2002    “Analog/Digital” City Without Walls, Group Show, curated by Samantha Dorfman,

               Newark, NJ

2001    “Architecture and Painting”, Howard House, Group Show, curated by Billy Howard,

               Seattle, WA

2001    “(un)Planned”, Walden, Michael Childs and Collin Keefe, curated by Robert Walden,

               New York, NY

1999    “Size Matters”, Gale Gates Gallery, Group Show, curated by Mike Wise,

               Brooklyn, NY

1999    “Up and Coming” Elizabeth Harris Gallery, curated by Bill Carol, New York, NY

1998    “New Directions”, Barret Art Center, Group Show, curated by Eugenie Tsai Of the

               Whitney Museum, New York, NY, Poughkeepsie, NY

1997    Stephanie Martz Gallery, Group Show, curated by Stephanie Martz, New York, NY

1995    “68 J”, Dumbo Artists Group, Group Show, Brooklyn, NY

Education

University of Guelph, Canada, Bachelor of Fine Arts 1989

Florida State University, Master of Fine Arts 1994

Public Art Projects

2008    New York Public Library, Site Specific piece, New York

2004    “Six Windows”, Nurture Art at Citicorp, Group Show, sight specific works, organized

     by Malin Abrahanson and Mike Childs

Awards

2002    Pollock - Krasner Foundation Grant, Award for one year of studio work

1995    Project Grant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Award for studio work

1993    Florence Study Award, Florida State University, Award for studio work, study and

                 teaching in Florence, Italy

Selected Reviews

Interview at Wave Hill, Bronx Net TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7ROlrvIqEc

Review of “Unbuilt / built” Arthaps, 2017.

Review of “Structural Tendencies” Artdaily, 2014.

Reveiw of “Structural Tendencies” by Paul Corio, Abstractcritical, 2014

Roberta Smith, Review of Cue Foundation of Art show, The New York Times,

          January 16^th 2006.

Review of the Cue Art Foundation, The New Yorker January 16^th. 2006

Review of Dancing in the Dark at ALJIRA, The Journal News, June 2, 2003.

Holland Cotter, Listing, "Urban Ledgends" ARTEX Gallery, New York Times,

          January 15, 2005.

Review of Elizabeth Harris, UP AND COMING, NY Magazine, Summer, 1999.