Michel Savage

Originally from Limoges, Ontario, Michel Savage graduated from the Visual Arts Department of the University of Ottawa, studying painting from 1972 to 1976 with Edmund Alleyn and Richard Gorman. In 1982, a trip to Spain and his encounter with Catalan painter Antoni Tàpies left a lasting influence on his work. Active in both academic and independent art circles, he also practices printmaking techniques such as etching, lithography, and screen printing. His recent work combines painting-collage with printmaking methods, developing a gestural script drawn from his evolving pictorial vocabulary. Characterized by broad calligraphic marks (sometimes subtle, sometimes set against saturated backgrounds) his art reflects over three decades of exploration between minimalism and decidedly postmodern gestural expression. Influenced by poetic symbolism, natural elements, phenomenology, and the I Ching, Savage continually forges a meditative link between emotion and gesture.