Michael Krumins

I draw and paint, creating the works that my heart has always harboured. Ostensibly, I like to draw people, as they are the subjects of love I encounter in daily life. A beautiful being is my starting point. I trust that in the artistic process they will make themselves known, and if anything is to be said, the subject will speak and the artist in translating will be of service.

I trained at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney, principally under the guidance of two-time Archibald winner, Nigel Thompson. More recently, I have been mentored and critiqued by the Australian artist, Ben Smith. I am a medical doctor, a father and a Zen practitioner, a gardener and planter of many trees to regenerate the rainforest and create beauty. I live and work in in proximity to trees and ocean, in coastal Australia.

I approach a work with no intention. Rather I commit to a process, whereby each mark, consideration or direction is held in equal measure by the heart and the gut. If and only if there is accord - a strong knowing, a feeling of correctness - then and only then I move onto the next mark, consideration or direction. In this way, a work grows and designs itself, and I’m challenged in the process to remain a custodian - upright, neither seeking a claim of authorship or ownership. I am always surprised and delighted by the outcome, and disappointed that the result is alien to expectations that arise, despite my best non-intention. After completion of a work, a narrative emerges via the same sequential and granular unfolding. 

The ongoing fuel for engagement is gratitude. Gratitude for the irreconcilable tension between anything I would seek to hold as my own, and the work that is nothing more than a result of surrender to the quiet seeing I’ve sought to develop all these years. 

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 16^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.