Michael Esch

Michael Esch is an artist in Colorado.  He has worked professionally for over 40 years with work placed throughout the US, and recognized for realist and stylized cloudscapes, in oil, acrylic and multi-media glass installations. He has performed extensive commission work ranging from small to extremely large paintings, for private, corporate and institutional collections.   

  EDUCATION

  • 1969-1972 Colorado College - Colorado Springs

  •  1982-1986 Univ. of Colorado - BFA Magna Cum Laude

REPRESENTED BY

  • King Galleries / Santa Fe, NM and Scottdale, AZ

  EXHIBITS / SHOWS

  • 1982:  Two Person - Sharf Gallery; Sante Fe, NM

  •  1983:  Colorado 83, Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs

  • 1984:  Tech Art, University of Colorado

  •  1985:  Artists of Colorado, University of Colorado

  • 1986:  Artists of the West, Colorado Springs

  •  1988:  Aires Invitational

  • 1991:  Colorado State Capital Competition Invitational

  • 1995:  Frameworks Gallery Exhibit, Colorado Springs

  •   1997:  Air Force Academy Commission Opening

   MAJOR COMMISSIONS

  •   Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Purchase Award

  •   Alfred Stone Collection - Washington DC

  •    Hewlett Packard - Briargate Installation

  •    Digital Equipment Corporation - Woodman Offices

  •    ITT Corporation - FELEC Offices

  •    Honeywell Corporation - Quail Lake

  •    Melcher Collection - Los Angeles

  •    William Key Collection - Los Angeles

  •    Thomas Bernard - Chicago

  •    Arnold Selfridge - New York, NY

  •    Lockheed - San Jose (Computer Animation)

  •    Western National Bank Headquarters Colorado Springs

  •    United States Air Force Academy(50’ by 320’ painting)

  •    Buckley Air Force Base MCS Facility Art Program

  •   Penrose Hospital – Colorado Springs

  • Schriever Air Force Base JNIC -Multi media glass wall

  • St.  Francis Hospital -- Oil paintings, glass and lenticular wall

  • University of Colorado Hospital - Multi media glass wall

ARTISTS STATEMENT

Nothing worthwhile is easy or without challenge, and that is how I approach art.  

My cloudscape and landscape paintings are a relatively straightforward way to express how I feel about nature; how striking it is now, and how it may have looked hundreds of years ago.  I will often erase human development from my work and paint as realistically as I can to convey an accurate vision of how my mind's eye sees the environment.  All too often, civilization creates ugliness; and my work is a window into how nature may appear without human intervention.

In large scale mural and multimedia installations, I try to be as overt as possible in scale, movement and expression.  I painted the largest painting on canvas in the world at the Air Force Academy (1997), and it still remains overpowering to viewers below.  My multimedia glass installations are also about visual impact, nature in its unspoiled state, and interaction with the work by moving past it.

I hope that my art will have an impact on the world in such a way that people can see the beauty of the natural world the way that I do, and to influence the preservation of  unspoiled environments.