In Shade She Calms (Purple) 2021. 108” x 60” acrylic on canvas

This week we welcome Mike Estabrook, a Brooklyn based artist originally from the Mississippi River town of Quincy, Illinois. His work is characterized by an irreverent humor and fantastical imagery, often addressing political or existential subjects. It moves through many different media forms, including animation, drawing, painting and installation. 


Jolene, Collector of Us All (Green) 2021 74” x 60” acrylic on canvas

These works are part of his series of large-scale paintings called “Psychopomps, Gods and Arcana”. Embodiments of psychopomp deities—those gods that lead the souls of the deceased into the afterlife–are depicted as incarnations of a personal, unconscious symbolism, formulated by automatic drawing and a randomized system of coloration, determined with dice rolls.


Janitor of the Gods (Patchwork) 2021. 30” x 20” acrylic on canvas

The spontaneous, subjective and chance-based elements inherent to these works are parallel to the aspirational hopes and fears shared by all who seek guidance through supra-rational means.


The Drunken One, The Dandy (Chromatic to Grey) 2021. 108” x 60” acrylic on canvas

Estabrook’s work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, festivals, and nonprofit spaces worldwide, including Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut; Gallerie SE Konst, in Falun, Sweden; Artisterium in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; Mixed Greens gallery in Chelsea, New York; the Malonny Festival, Marijampolé, Lithuania; Collegium Artisticum Terezije, Sarajevo; BiH, The Queens Museum, The Bronx Museum, New York; Quartair Fine Arts, Den Haag, NL, PPOW Fine Arts, and PS1/MOMA. 


Installation view

Additionally, he has been an artist-in-residence at The MacDowell Colony; The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace program; The Media Arts Fellowship at BRIC; NY Arts Beijing, China; Artists in the Marketplace program at the Bronx Museum; the Rotating Studio Program at the Artist’s Alliance; and LMCC’s Governors Island residency. 

See more of Estabrook’s work on his website and instagram.

Nitin is a visual designer, gallery artist, and community arts activist. Past desk-oriented posts include: PBS, Digitas, K12, Inc., Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and Sesame Workshop International....

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