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Standing Watch, Sharon at 15th - Speas_e
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"Standing Watch, Sharon at 15th"     Acrylic on Birch Wood     Original Work     24 x 36

Featured Artwork #105, on display at #deYoungOpen September 30, 2023, through January 7, 2024

de Young Museum Featured Artist Statement on "Standing Watch"

I paint stories to evoke more than what can be merely seen in the painting … I paint to provoke thoughts, desires, and fears. My submission, “Standing Watch, Sharon at 15th,” is a scene from my neighborhood, the Castro. Completed January 20, 2021, the day of Joe Biden's inauguration, "Standing Watch" represents the joy and relief of that day, whether through the dawn of a new morning, the clearing of dark skies, a George Floyd protest sign, voyeuristic exhibitionism, Pride, or a MAGA hat thrown in the trash.

                                                                                                        Michael Speas

©2024 Michael Sterling Speas

Fluidity 2:3

Fluidity 2:3: Celebration of our differences:

1. Flexibility in orientation and identification

2. Maya Angelou, Human Family:

 

 

I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of the world
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

Gallery of Art for Sale

Gallery of Art for Sale

©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

Stories in Art

©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

Stories in Development

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©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

Works in Progress

...now desired for the ages

©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

About the Art

About the Art

A monk losing his faith. Newlyweds jumping to their deaths. Courbet turned tawdry. Gay choosing a future. Illa May screaming for freedom.

The gift of French and American multiculturalism. The death of MAGA. Queer love. Sexuality.

Disturbing, empowering, bold, challenging, thought-provoking, impassioned, dramatic, and unforgettable.

All built on a foundation of raw emotion.

Modern Art. Narrative Art. Stories in art.

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©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

 

VOTE

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©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

About the Artist
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About the Artist

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Born to his father’s lover; adopted by his father’s first wife.

 

Into poverty, racism, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, hate.

 

Hard work, and limitless kindness and generosity of others, led to escape and love.

 

Many lives in North Carolina, Baltimore, New York, Charlottesville, San Francisco, and Paris.

 

To empower minorities, people of color, youth, disadvantaged, disabled, and LGBTQIA. You are smart, strong, and beautiful.

My art is my path to death.

Perhaps there are 20 more paintings left in me. Color is my life, but the dark of night is winning.

Robert, how many miles do I have left?

Thank you, de Young, for your faith.

Speas
 

©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

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Disabled Veteran
Black and White Portrait
Image by Danie Franco
Image by 青 晨
Image by Alexander Grey

©2023 Michael Sterling Speas

Le Melange..The Melange

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