MICHAEL FRENKEL Michael Frenkel was born in Ukraine in 1964. His father, Wolf is a well known painter. In 1982 he graduated from the Ukraine Republic Art School and in the same year he was accepted into the Kiev High Academy of Art from which he graduated with honors. In 1986 he joined a group of dissident artists who created and exhibited all over Europe. Frenkel's paintings are strongly influenced by the post impressionists, particularly Mattisse. His subjects and atmosphere are turn-of-the-century European. He works mostly in acrylic on canvas, using the human figure as a formal, rather than expressive emotional element. Their poses are theatrical, exaggerated, clothed in carefully selected costumes in order to achieve the atmosphere of the composition, frozen in time and undisturbed by man. The colors he uses are dictated by his goal to achieve a balanced composition pursued through form and color. read more