Michael James Cisarik

Michael James Cisarik is an emerging abstract artist based in Houston, Texas. After attending the University of Texas at Austin for his undergrad and master’s degrees, he currently works full time in the energy industry and began painting for the first time in 2020. After only a matter of months, he began to sell works to clients and designers across the U.S. and has since been recognized by national and international publications and institutions like Condé Nast, Vanity Fair, Tatler, House & Garden, Paper City, Saatchi Art, London’s “Floorr” Magazine, Lisbon’s Suboart Magazine, Belgium’s Contemporary Art Issue, Vancouver’s “Booooooom” Magazine and The University of Texas at Austin, among others. Further, Cisarik was named as an “A-List Artist” by Vanity Fair in March 2023. Cisarik’s work tends to be large-scaled and hyper-minimalist, focusing on large color blocks paired with contrasting, meticulously placed colorful accents, gritty textures, and delicate scrawls to evoke a state of movement. His mediums typically include a combination of acrylic and oil paints, charcoal, pastel, and graphite.

“While I have a vision of how I want a painting to end, I really don’t know how each brushstroke, accent, or individual scrawl will interact at the end – and in a way I can’t ever seem to describe, you never know when you are done until it suddenly hits you. My vision always morphs as more elements are added but when complete, the colors, textures, scrawls, and brushstrokes produce a flurry of emotions that are different in every light. Each time I get the opportunity to visit a piece that I sold, I feel the same emotions that I had when I was first creating it. Happiness, sadness, peace, hope, frustration...it’s all here. Finishing a painting is truly unlike any accomplishment I’ve ever had. I realized through my experience with all of this, that artists literally pour their feelings onto a canvas for someone else, sometimes someone they don’t know at all, in an attempt to produce emotions that they had inside of themselves. Many times, it isn’t about something you necessarily “see” but something you “feel” when absorbing one’s art. I can only hope that the anyone viewing my work is able to feel the same connection that I do.” - Michael