Michael Indorato is an artist from Paramus New Jersey whose art I have seen posted on the  social networking site, ”Facebook.”

When one views Michael’s work, they are taken to another beautiful world, filled with the images of this artist’s imagination. You know you have viewed true art when you walk away from an image that has spoken to you, and continues to speak to you days later. Michael’s works do just that. Since my first privilege of viewing these pieces, they have been on my mind and being the writer that I am, it left me curious to learn more about Michael Indorato and his work.

Michael has agreed to speak with Troubadour21 today and give us a bit more insight on his work, his vision, and future endeavors.

T21: Michael, it’s an extreme pleasure to have this opportunity to speak with you today and discuss your magnificent works of art. Can you tell T21 and its readers what is it that art means to you both personally and professionally?

Michael:

Art means the same, both personally and professionally, it means everything. When I create, I’m alive, I’m figuring out secrets that are usually hidden from us. Like a child, I’m discovering new dimensions, visiting other worlds and playing with the toys there. Rearranging and watching how they move, studying how things work. Looking for the order in chaos, learning and absorbing.

 Art, for me, is a portal into another time and place and my works are what I bring back to show you. Art is a mirror, as we look, we see things within ourselves. I start a painting and sign it, but it’s you, the viewer who continues until it’s complete. What makes my work so special is that it will never be complete; it’s a journey, like life itself.

 For me, creating is a wrestling match with the mind and soul… with things that make sense, and things that just feel right, and others that don’t. Art is to the eyes what music is to the ears… a direct link to the soul.

 Elvis was the King, but when the Beatles came along, they changed everything. They took us to new heights and new depths. I feel the same is to be true with my work; I’m about to change everything. I will take visual art to new levels and the world will soon know my name.

T21: How long have you been painting?

Michael:  In 1996 I started painting with a true passion at 26 years old. I was always creative but didn’t realize my potential or purpose until that time. I recall it being Easter time and I was living alone in a studio apartment in Southern California. I had moved out there from NJ a year prior and I was trying to figure out why. I was searching for something and it took moving across the country and being completely lonely, sad and lost to find it. I remember creating a large painting of the crucifixion in my famous circular style. Throughout my life, I would draw religious pictures when I was really hurting or felt lost.

But as I was painting this large, abstract cross with Christ hanging there, something magical happened. I realized that an image of a beast appeared. The demon was right there fighting me, as I was reaching out to God.  That picture and the power it revealed scared me, but I realized that something very special was happening to me and I would not be the same again. I knew at that moment what my purpose was and that only creating art would save me.

Thinking back, the treasure was always there, but I had to lose all hope, and finally ask God for help, and trust in God alone to truly find it.

 T21: Can you give us some examples of the challenges that the painter must contend with in the marketplace today? In other words; how easy, or how hard is it to get your work shown in galleries?

Michael: I may not be able to answer this question from a position of authority.  I am mostly self taught and do not have the network in place that artists on the inside have. I have not shown in a commercial gallery before now. The amount of talent, ability and work out there is completely mind boggling. If it even happens to get noticed at all, does an amateur dare put their work and vision on the line for others to misunderstand and shit on? Truthfully, that fear had kept me from even attempting to get my work shown until recently.

I have been painting for 13 years, accumulated hundreds of paintings and they are beginning to fall in on me. So I feel the time has come, and I have no choice anymore. Like the birth of a butterfly, now it’s time for me to spread my wings and show the world my works. I am making plans now to get my work noticed but it will take a lot of effort, dedication, determination, and probably a little luck.

Most importantly, it will take Faith and trust in the unknown things to come. Fear alone holds most of us back from achieving our dreams. But remember this, win or lose, do what you love, and do it with complete conviction, and you can’t go wrong.

 T21: What is your overall vision in terms of your work? What is that you want to convey to the world through it?

 Michael: If you could take this thin layer of reality and peel it back…you would see an underlying structure, moving and churning underneath. My art attempts to capture that system, that structure, which remains just beyond of our senses. It’s not so much the image, but the energy this system is creating that drives my work. My vision is to show that there is so much more here than what our minds can take in and understand, and that we are all trapped within these narrow walls of “reality”.

I feel that there is an omnipotent presence; an infinite balance where everything is connected in some way, both in time and space. It goes far beyond our comprehension. Infinity will always be just out of our reach, yet we all exist within its boundaries.

Time is space, and the gravitational motion within that space is interpreted as time, it goes on forever. We are all part of something much larger and at the same time something much smaller.  My vision is to share my thoughts with the world through my art and to convey a very simple message: God is real, omnipotent and infinite.

My works hold messages that I don’t even know are there and I feel offer something special for everyone to see. My works are alive and full of energy, born from what seems like nothingness, like a flower. They appear to move, as chaos is constantly becoming order and order becoming chaos. As you look at my work, it changes. You become the artist and see what you alone were meant to see.

This all may not make sense now, but I hope to try to explain it better through my works. I think in the end, my ultimate vision, my ultimate goal, is to become known as “INDORATO” the greatest artist of our time.

T21: I see that you are a married man. Is your family supportive of your work, and how important is that for an artist in terms of being able to produce quality work on a consistent basis?

Michael: My family has been supportive of me up to now, but not always. It takes a special kind of person to stand by another who has an extraordinarily creative mind. Many demons have been fought so having a system behind me, supporting me as an artist, and as a person, is vital to not only my success, but also my sanity. I have noticed through the years however, that sometimes it seemed that everything and everyone was working against me.

My artistic passions for creating become somewhat of a threat to others and myself. I didn’t understand, so fear and anxiety completely consumed me at times, and so did sadness. What I consider my gift now, at times felt more like a curse. But I guess the old clichés are true, nobody ever said it was going to be easy and nothing worth having comes easy anyway. I can still remember my grandmother telling me as a child “life is not a bowl of cherries, so get used to it.”  She is the distorted, miserable old woman smoking in many of my newer works.

The challenge for me lies in the fact that I must balance the time spent here in this reality, with my friends and family, with the time and places I visit when creating. I tend to completely lose myself in my work and fear I may go too far someday. When my creative mind takes over and drowns out this illusion we all agree on as reality, is the day I will know I have reached the next level on my journey. I just hope I can continue to convince everyone that I’m still sane. It takes trust, without it, everything will fall apart, both in my relationships with others and within myself.

T21: Do you have any showings scheduled in the future?

Michael: My first showing, as of this moment, is scheduled for Friday, November 20, 2009 thru Friday, December 11, 2009, with an opening reception on, Thursday, December 3, 2009 at Agora Gallery in New York City.  It will be my first professional exhibit in a group showing. I will present 3 of my older floral works. The theme of the show is very fitting for me; it’s called “Metamorphosis.”  I am very excited and I feel that it will open many doors for me. When the world is ready, I will emerge and fly in the direction my heart takes me. Chaos theory and the butterfly effect is the foundation of everything I create.

T21: Can you tell our readers how they can contact you for showings etc. Is there a place online that people can go to, to view your works?

Michael: I have most of my older works on my website www.indorato.comThere you will also find links to my email, blog and eBay store. My Facebook gallery is where I post most of my newest works and interact with my fans. I welcome all to come join and share your opinions and thoughts.  The joy of creating is equal to the joy of sharing and I think it will be worth your trip through cyberspace, at least to stop in for a visit.

T21: Troubadour21 supports the arts in all its many forms. And to that end, can you give our readers any advice in terms of their artistic endeavors, what has worked for you and what has not? What can you tell the beginning artists who may have the opportunity to read this interview?

Michael: When I was a child my kindergarten art teacher asked us to create a line that never ended. That was the first time I was introduced to the concept of infinity in art. It has now come to define my artistic philosophy and figure of 8, circular style you see in my work today.

I feel that God gave me the gift of fertile ground and my teacher planted the seed. But the nurturing and loving rain I needed to grow wasn’t always there. The most difficult part of my artistic journey has been this- From what I’ve observed through the years, very few people have truly encouraged me to follow my dreams of becoming a successful, professional artist. Unfortunately we live in a culture that has not fully come to understand, appreciate or realize the amazing power that the arts hold. For most, to say you are going to be an artist is another way of saying you will suffer, live poor and remain a dreamer… in other words, be a loser.

My rise through the ranks was a long and difficult road, a road that I am still on. But I am now staying true to myself. Win or lose, I know I will remain content and satisfied for the rest of my days because I know I will have given it my all. I am following my dream and by doing so I am also taking a big risk. I have responsibilities and financial commitments, as most of us do. So I have a lot to lose, but there is a lot more to gain.

I have grown in spite of the lack of encouragement I received throughout my life and have found other sources of inspiration to help my art and vision flourish. And I feel that I need to share these treasures because I noticed that I wasn’t the only one out here thirsty and starving all these years. I hope to be an inspiration to others to follow their dreams.

But it seems that logical thought and order is constantly trying to drown out creativity, putting it in nice little boxes and filing them in their proper place. And it’s this process that seems to be suffocating the magical and free thinking spirit that our society needs to grow in a positive way again.  We are conditioned to believe that we all have our bills to pay and mouths to feed, so we better play our role and be a productive part of the system to stay alive. Unfortunately the system has learned to also count on those who will inevitable fail, and when their failure allows many to prosper, I feel that system will begin to self-destruct.

So far, in my adult life, I have chosen a positive, responsible and structured role on this journey. I gave of myself to others to serve my community and became a schoolteacher, but deep down I knew that it would be temporary.

But time is a thief and before I knew it, ten years had gone by. With my dreams on hold and the output of my art slowed to a crawl, all was not lost. I now realize that those years were not spent in vain; because the energy and gifts that the children gave me during that time were vital to my growth as a person and as an artist. As I taught and inspired them, I learned and was inspired. They gave to me far more than I could ever give them.

I look at my teaching years as my cocoon. The years I truly developed and learned to see the world like a child again, with wonder and limitless possibilities.  June 24, 2009 was my last day as a public school art teacher.

After many years of searching for the truth, I have finally come to this conclusion…. I am an artist… I am Michael Indorato and I feel that it’s now my time to shine.

When viewing the art of Michael Indorato, we get the rare chance to peer into the soul of an artist. He places it on the canvas for the world to see and remember. It is a relatively rare occurrence when a collection of work can incite such an emotion. The art of Michael Indorato allows us to enter a dream-like state with our eyes wide open; we experience the majesty and creativity of this artist in each brush stroke, in each individual piece of work.

One of the greatest gifts is that of inspiration, Michael Indorato’s artwork inspires, titillates, and moves. Troubadour21 wishes Michael all the best in his artistic endeavors and we thank you for taking the time to speak with us today.