ÆQAI - Michael Scott: Preternatural

Preternatural: Paintings by Michael Scott

Here's an excerpt from Cole Carothers' review:  

"In the first room of Scott’s paintings, however, it’s apparent this is no ordinary landscape show. The darkly painted walls, dramatically aimed lights, carpeted floors, and soft sounds emanating from Rich Bitting’s soundtrack (composed to accompany the exhibition) envelop and embrace. The effect is like an abbey or sanctuary in which Nature’s drama is rendered vividly in monumental scale. There, to ponder a gift of creation."

 

left: Fire Orb 2015 oil on linen 80 x 57 inches - detail

 

 

America’s Epic Treasures featuring Preternatural by Michael Scott

Venue Magazine April 2022

“America’s Epic Treasures featuring Preternatural by Michael Scott” also includes an original score created by Cincinnati-based composer, Richard Bitting. The composition, based on the four elements, has instrumentals representing fire, water, earth, and air.

“The soundtrack is an integral part of the experience,” Scott says. “The audio submersion allows viewers to be present in the landscapes.”

Full article

Want to become one with nature and explore Michael Scott’s immersive landscape paintings? Get your tickets at cincymuseum.org/tickets.

 AEQAI

–Cynthia Kukla 

Pop-Up Prints Just in Time – Clay Street Press, Sunday, September 13th, 2020 

"I wish to share with you two particular prints, bearing in mind the difficulty and complexity of the printmaking process.  Of course I’d swoon if gifted a simple Picasso Bullfight etching with spit bite, but I am usually drawn to prints that have a marriage of powerful image and complex printmaking technique. 

So Richard Bitting’s Kepler’s Harmony is one such print.  It is a large, 40 x 30” image on Arches Cover black paper. If you have ever seen a lush velvety pastel drawing on black paper you can imagine the seductiveness of a black print! And Elvis always looks better painted on black velvet fabric. So here, Bitting has made a lyrical image of parts of the solar system in tandem with a musical score written into the celestial bands. The colors of the celestial configurations vibrate against the rich black paper as the images in the night sky are illuminated against the inky black of night.  The print is complex and the printing of it a tour de force accomplishment. It was one of the highlights of the exhibit."

Here's a link to the full article

 

Coast to Coast American Prints 1960-2010

May 29, 2010 - August 15, 2010 - Art: Coast to Coast at CAM The Cincinnati Art Museum’s print collection is local legend, and a summer exhibition gives us a glimpse of artists working near and far towards wildly diverse results in the printmaking process. Coast to Coast American Prints 1960-2010 includes fine examples of internationally established artists, such as Ed Ruscha’s sleekly elegant car-themed pieces, or the electric blue fount suggested in Claes Oldenburg’s print, hung beside a Christo piece that sketches out future installation pieces. Maybe even more delightful is the number of beloved locals curated into the show, including the graph-like image from artist and musician Rich Bitting, or one of Tom Shaw’s edgy relief prints of the struggles of urban life. The exhibition shares a gallery with a strange IKEA stocked reading lounge and the surprisingly engrossing What America Means to Me project of children and other visitors’ interpretations of America through drawings—maybe a bit much to crowd in at once. But that seems to be the CAM’s draw for summer: lots and lots of shows and activities going on simultaneously. - Matt Morris in City Beat ”