Time is a Rubbery Thing

My creative engagement started in North Dakota. The stillness of the environment inspired me to make something beyond myself. Early on, my inclination was to copy what I saw—images from popular culture and nature.

North Dakota was farmland or wilderness. There were 650,000 people in 69,000 mi²—9.4 persons per square mile. In contrast, I now live in New York City, where there are over 29,000 people per square mile. The landscape of North Dakota was geographically open, part of the Great Plains. Access to information was limited; I was left to my own devices to determine my direction—especially as someone who is dyslexic and does not absorb information in a traditional sense.

My first major New York influence in art came through encountering Asmat sculpture—the coastal, totemic works of the Asmat people in Papua Province (western New Guinea). These works entered Western collections through expeditions led by figures such as Michael Rockefeller, who removed them from Asmat communities. Karmically, he vanished in November 1961 off the southern coast of New Guinea when his catamaran capsized, according to his father Nelson’s account. Speculation based on local testimony suggests he may have been killed by members of the Asmat village of Otsjanep.

Walking into that collection, installed in the West Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I had an epiphany of what totemic art could be, and what sexually ritualized art could be. This spiritual, shamanistic work led me to recognize the power of my own relationship anchored in art-making. I lived in Europe intermittently from January 1984 through the summer of 1992, along with extended periods in California and New York City. I have traveled or lived in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and China. I think the combination of these places has shaped the direction of my work: my art is an amalgamation of these influences, yet something completely unique remains within it.

I’m often asked, “What are your influences? What are you trying to say?” I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to say. Art-making is visceral; it comes out of the act of making itself. Even as I look at my paintings, I can’t quite verbalize what it is I’m trying to say, because it exists as a nonverbal language. I’m speaking the language of visual thinking. To understand it, one must see the art. This visual language encompasses much more; it is articulated through visual expression, reaching places where linguistic vocabulary is inaccessible. It’s about space, about context—containing and pushing energy. It’s the process of going to work every day, jolting myself forward. One has to take the making for what it is, rather than trying to force it into something it’s not. I can talk about it, but after a while it begins to sound unintelligible, because the language exists in the work—it’s not coming out of my mouth, it’s coming out of the painting.

I try not to force the work. One can’t force anyone to do anything, and it’s the same with a painting—no matter how badly you want something or someone, you can’t force it. Force never achieves what I’m after. It’s about being present in the moment—having a conversation, a back-and-forth, a dialogue in real time. I don’t know what’s going to be said until it’s said. You just start talking; it’s the same with the paint. I don’t know the specific dialogue before it begins. I have an idea, an intention of what I want, but it’s not fixed. If I can stay open to what’s happening, the painting will evolve. I have this visual vocabulary to draw from, using the tools I have to expand what the painting is becoming. There are moments when these things make me panic, when I feel like I’ve pushed them too far, that I’ve fucked them up beyond repair. There’s a fight to go back into the painting, to let it become what it wants to become.

That, for me, is the definition of my work. It’s about what happens cerebrally to the soul, and when instinct and emotional intelligence go to work. That push, that jolt, is the intensity of being in the studio, having that conversation with myself again and again. It’s a crucial part of how we become who we are. We all come out of something; we all come out of someone, but paint is going to do what it does when you blend it. You either get mud, or you ride on top, touching all the octaves. In painting, it’s about figuring out what works. Instincts are linked with consequences and shaped by experience. Instinct creates revelation. Randomness is an integral part; until I pull the color across the surface of the linen I don’t fully know what will happen. My intention is to keep that randomness intact—to make the painting work, and to recognize when it is working.

Career Highlights

I have shown at institutional venues such as the Sunshine International Museum and the National Art Museum of China, both in Beijing; the Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea, Albissola, Italy; the Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Museum of Art. My solo exhibitions have taken place at Core Club, Unix Gallery, David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Morris-Warren Gallery, Barbara Greene Fine Art, Tama Gallery, and FiveMyles, all in New York; Art Virus LTD and Thomas Punzmann Fine Art, Frankfurt, Germany; Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea, Albissola, Italy; Galerie Bercovy-Fugier, Paris; Galerie Capazza, Paris/Nançay, France; Galerie Christine Le Chanjour, Nice, France; and Gallery Jean Yves Noblet, Paris/Grenoble, France. Art fair appearances include FICA, Paris; ArtFair, Cologne; and Arco, International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid. My work has been reviewed in Art in America, Art News, Artcritical, Black Renaissance Noire, Art Daily, and numerous other publications.

2003

• 100 Broadway Exhibition Program, New York City, curated by Suzanne Randolph Fine Arts

2001

• Recent Paintings, Barbara Greene Fine Art, New York City
• “Razing Space, The New Paintings of C. Michael Norton” Galerie Terre d’Art, St. Paul de Vence, France

1992

• “Albissola/America/Arte” Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea, Albissola, Italy
  Galerie Capazza, Paris/Nancay, Nancay, France

1990

• Galerie Bercovy-Fugier, Paris, France

1985

• Gallery 30, San Mateo, California

1984

• Galerie Christine Le Chanjour, Nice, France Galerie Jean-Yves Noblet, Paris, Grenoble, France

1983

• Markham Gallery/Museum Services, San Jose, California

1981

• San Jose State University, San Jose, California

2009

• Collaborative Concepts at Saunders Farm, Garrison, NY

2008

• Sunshine International Museum Annual Art Exhibition, Beijing, China curated by Peter Wayne Lewis
• Collaborative Concepts at Saunders Farm, Garrison, NY
• Union Square West Group Exhibition (Tama Gallery), New York, NY
• “Inside/Outside,” Maxwell Fine Art, New York City

2007

• “Sudden Spring Suite,” Tama, New York City

2004

• “Precipitations London Biennale New York Pollinations,” The Lab Gallery,
• The Roger Smith Hotel, New York City, curated by Koan Jeff Baysa

2001-02

• Barbara Greene Fine Art, New York City

2000-02

• Galerie Terre d’Art, St. Paul de Vence, France

1990-98

• Galerie Capazza, Paris/Nancay France

1989-91

• Galerie Bercovy-Fugier, Paris, France
• Salon International D’Arts Plastiques de Valognes, France
• Galerie Bercovy-Fugier, Paris, France

1986

• Zeus-Trabia Gallery, New York City

1985

• San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California
• Arco, International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
• Solan de Montruge, Pairs, France

1984

• Gallery 30, San Mateo, California

2013

• “Over The Top” by Stephen Westfall, artdaily.com (July 2013)

2007

• “Sudden Springs Suite” by Koan Jeff Baysa
• “The Sudden Spring Series” by Koan Jeff Baysa, dArt International 
 (volume 10, number 1), Miami, Florida
• “Tactile Abpressionism” by Koan Jeff Baysa, NY Arts
 (March/April 2007)

2004

• “Wrangled Tebs” by Koan Jeff Baysa

2001

• “Razing Spaces: The New Paintings by C. Michael Norton” 
 by Dominique Nahas

1990

• “C. Michael Norton: From the Comedy of America to the 
 Ceremony of Life” by Isabelle Coera

1987

• C. Michael Norton, featured artist, Peninsula Magazine 
 (April 1987), San Francisco, California

1986

• Exhibition 86, 11th Annual Great American Arts Festival, 
 Santa Clara, California (Alena Willcoxon/Eileen Hill/Bee Wax)

1985

• “C Michael Norton” by Jacqueline Blance, Galerie Le Chanjour, 
 Nice, France, Kanal Magazine (January 1985)

1984

• Awarded exhibition and residency grants from Ministere de la
 Culture, Paris, France, Commission d’orientation des artes 
 plastiques, Grenoble, France

1977

Bachelor of Arts, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California