Born in Montreal, Michael Grunde lived across Canada, and you see that influenced in his work. Trained as an artist at the University of Calgary, and University of Alberta in Fine Arts, as well as mentoring under Dene Croft, the President of the Canadian Federation of Artists, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Mike has embraced his styles experimenting with colour compositions with hints of Vorticist, Cubist, and impressionist traits. His colour transitions within his butterflies evoke advancing and receding total points, that both give rise and can also give tension to that form. His Landscape works focus on the subtle illusions of canopy and undergrowth using different colour schemes and tonal values. After nearly two decades in another industry. Mike now works full time as an artist in his studio in Vancouver, BC.
Abstraction has aways played a part of his artistic upbringing, and is something he has aways felt should not be forgotten in his creative process. Throughout his learning, he has balanced the pursuit of illusion of detail, and technical skill, with the exploratory creative processes. This can be shown by his decision to switch from the gestural figure and renaissance drawings taught at the University of Calgary, to the modernist school at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Having spent 10 years tree planting in northern BC, Alberta, and the Territories, and keeping a photo journal has given Mike Grunde an extensive cache of images to work with, and has kept him grounded knowing that Landscapes will aways be a part of his artistic journey, as they are a part of his roots, and his cultural heritage.
You can view his artwork here in the gallery at mikegrunde.ca or email him at hello@mikegrunde.ca.
To view his full cv or resume, click here