Mike Massengale Biography

Artist Mike Massengale is best known for his unique “Liquid Vibration” style of artwork. He often uses music to drive the emotion of his signature style—warm and emotionally evocative images that are dreamy and tranquil yet alive with intense colors, Mike incorporates a variety of different mediums into his paintings—from both oil and acrylic to digital painting—he is always studying and researching new techniques which will lend themselves to his personal method. Mike’s work has resonated with audiences and buyers across the U.S. and throughout Europe.

Audiences describe his style with words like “melting, vibrant, and dreamy”. His “Jazz and Blues” series entitled “Intertwined” is a compilation of musical instruments and melodic styles. The music of jazz greats such as Muddy Waters or Sade help him see musicians and their melting presence on stage. Massenagale then allows his imagination to take him into a small, dark and smoky jazz bar where the dramatic lighting and the music consume the mind. That’s what the paintings are all about; a little fantasy, a little escapism and a great deal of daydreaming.

Massengale’s series entitled “Illumination” is a symphonic performance of light and emotion. The paintings feature a young girl playing solos on classical instruments such as the flute, violin and cello. The images are a continuation of his Jazz and Blues series, but with a deeper personal note. The driving inspiration is anxiety, the enlightenment of depression and the growth of joy and satisfaction of living life to its’ fullest.

Massengale’s “Women in Sports” series was inspired by watching television sporting events in which women were the main focus. He found them fast-paced, exciting, and extremely competitive. In Massengale’s view women’s sports art is a vastly under-represented market. Today’s female athletes train hard, strive to excel in performance, and take their sports very seriously. They therefore deserve as much consideration as their male counterparts, believes Massengale.

Motion is the driving force behind all of these paintings—creating emotional tension in the image. When he paints or illustrates, Massengale uses distortion to enhance the feeling of motion and intense colors for the mood of the environment. He strives to capture the in-betweens of a complete movement by making the figures fluid like liquid—tight exacting moments with subtle motions captured in an instant, much like a photographer’s live-action image. The result is a figure captured in a split second of time playing a specific sport. The 12 sports represented in this limited edition giclee print series are: tennis, golf, soccer, volleyball, softball, field hockey, gymnastics, diving, running, basketball, skating and lacrosse.