Michael McAteer

Memories have become the content of my work; each work is the embodiment of a memory. Each memory is portrayed with the intent to speak to its audience, to tell a story, to document significant moments in time, to be remembered and not forgotten. These memories involve or are linked to the influential aspects of my childhood including my familial relationships, Okinawan and Japanese art and culture, toys,the macabre, and rural Virginia. Each work becomes a conclusive response while simultaneously acting as a form of escapism. The result of my creative process--completely raw imagination. As we remember we almost certainly forget. I believe artists choose the process of creating as their means or form of recording their memories.They choose to remember or record memories of the most significant instances or moments they experience in their daily lives, whether they are surrounded by a dark cloud or a ray of sunshine. These instances or moments usually contain the power to transform individuals psychologically and spiritually. I believe when an individual experiences a transcendent transformation due to a moment in their life, then their life is remembered, recorded, and memorialized by others. They achieve becoming the embodiment of a memory, never to fade away.