Michael Azgour is a contemporary figurative artist whose paintings contemplate the space between perception and reality, peering into our reliance on imagery – such as those used in mass media, advertising, and social media – as factual representations despite their fallibility to deliver the truth. A Native of California, he is known for large, expressive compositions which combine multi-layered and divergent painting styles, such as painterly figuration and geometric abstraction.

Azgour’s award-winning paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, and Asia, such as solo shows at the Art Museum of Los Gatos, CA and Hohmann Fine Art in Palm Desert, CA, as well as art fairs such as SCOPE NYC, Los Angeles Art Show, and Seattle Art Fair. His work is part of renowned collections around the world, including the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University. Michael has exhibited alongside a number of renowned contemporary artists and regularly delivers artist presentations, workshops, and panels, including recently at TEDx Krakow. Michael teaches drawing and painting courses at Stanford University.

“Azgour’s works are expressive and geometric abstractions informed by an involved process that combines a strategic, realistic technique with pattern and repetition and the muse of accidental surprise. His figures seemingly float with one foot firmly planted in the present while the other wafts into the past. Paint becomes pixel, blur or distortion mirroring the disconnected snapshots and video clips that populate our social media profiles. He challenges the viewer’s interpretation by combining unrelated imagery in the same composition. Although the disparate visuals and juxtaposed compositions appear random, they are in fact bits of narrative from the artist’s own life and travels.”  – K Nichols  [more]