Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week features work by Michael B. Schwartz

 

The Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week made its debut on the national arts scene, with over 14,000 attendees descending upon WestWorld of Scottsdale during the four day festival. This past March 20-23, 2025, over 100 galleries from nine countries showcased internationally known and emerging visual artists from throughout the world. The event marked a pivotal turning point for the the Southwestern Art scene.

I was selected to participate in this amazing inaugural exhibit with the ArtLink booth.
I submitted a work entitled “Ganim” (Gardens in Hebrew), created in 2023. It’s an acrylic painting on canvas, 36” x 48” x 1.5”. 

 

“Ganim”

The work represents this idea of rebirth, renewal and growth, while acknowledging our individual and collective suffering. This idea that the “wheat shall grow again” is comforting, to know that there harmony and peace exist in the world, and we must intentionally be it’s stewards.

Check out my website to find more artworks, and perhaps one that’s perfect for your collection. 

Prism/Transitions Installation 2025 Art Link PRISM Gala

 I was honored to be part of the 2025 Art Link PRISM Gala at the Biltmore Fasion Park in Phoenix AZ. This stunning collaboration includes visual art by Michael B Schwartz and the sensational Ruby Farias Designs who created three unique party dresses.

Thank you to her amazing models Vera Rosalind and Anastasia Stock!

The group exhibit will be up through the end of March, 2025 at the Biltmore Fashion Park next to Ralph Lauren in downtown Phoenix, AZ.

“Prism/Transitions” Installation
(5) 57” x 144” Drops
Acrylic on 8 gauge Mylar
Lamenate on Cardboard, Lights, Acrylics
© 2025 Michael B Schwartz

#artlink #artdcoregala #artlinkgala #PRISM #prismgala #artistsaz #artdetour #prismexhibition #MBSarts #Installation #SparksOfLight

Process shots: measuring, weaving, cutting.

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Happy New Year: 2024 reflections

Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy, joyful holiday season.

As the seasons change and the year draws to a close, I’m sharing a few examples from a new body of paintings. I’ve been reviewing stacks of drawings, selecting my favorites, then translating them into acrylic paintings. It’s an intoxicating experience. There are a mix of imagined and observed scenes, various mystery and adventure themes.

*All these work are available. Please email me for details.*

“Glue”
18” x 24”
Pencil on Paper
© 2024 Michael B Schwartz

“Glue”
18” x 24”
Acrylic on Canvas
© 2024 Michael B Schwartz

A new year approaches, with new possibilities and opportunity.

"Watching the Sunset"
12” x 16”
Acrylic on Canvas
© 2024 Michael B Schwartz

“Dial Up”
18” x 24”
Acrylic on Canvas
© 2024 Michael B Schwartz

 

 

As this year draws to a close, I am reminded drawing is the center, where so much work and ideas start. So in that spirit, I'm sharing several examples from 2024. 

 

If you ever wonder what artists are doing at given time, there is a good chance it's drawing. 

 

 

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Summer Nights: Cashew Road

 Summer nights.

Hey, do you all remember, that one time we went to the old farm house by Cashew Road?

We sat and watched the sunset from the bridge that evening, flicking rocks onto the railroad track and talking about the odd cloud formations we had seen earlier.

For whatever reason we thought it would be abandon. The yard was unkept, and wildflowers were growing. Rusty old machine parts scattered about. The meandering walk across the farm and back on to West Main wasn’t more than a mile. Then the sound of a shotgun and something whizzing by our heads. “Git off my damn property” we hear a man yell  - then a second shot - we take off running as fast as we can, a pellet caught the back of Jorges calf, but he hobble runs like a chicken. Looking back we can see the dim silhouette of a large man in the distance, gun in the air.  

We make the road - the dim yellow street lights create an odd mellow ambiance. Most likely we are safe. It was still early, but West Main at times can be a ghost highway, a car passing every 20 minutes or so. We sit, legs dangling on the road as we pluck grass, placing a blade carefully between our thumbs and index fingers, cupping our hands we while blowing as loudly as possible. The whistles pierce an ambling summer night.

A couple in the distance laugh as they get into their car. A slight breeze. We walk through the graveyard to West Park, occasionally someone runs ahead and hides. We walk by, indifferent as they pop out from behind a tree. We all laugh, making our way past familiar houses to an open field. We lay down stare at the stars as the fireflies scuttle about. We stare into the universe, and fall asleep. 

Narrative Mystery Drawings

Tower Power
2023
9” x 12”
Ink on Paper

Drawing has always been at the center of my daily practice. It’s such a direct experience: paper, pencil, erasers. If a photo tells a thousand stories, a drawing tells a million. In this hyper information and digital age, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. The act of drawing is a way to process all of this. The viewer perhaps has a moment to reflect, to breathe. 

Inside the work of art each characters has their own life story. It’s like looking at a a single frame from a graphic novel, but the viewer is left to fill in the rest of the story - the before and after. In this sense narrative painting can be empowering, liberating, or challenge our perceptions and assumptions. It’s up to the viewer to complete the work.

My favorite are mystery narrative artworks. The audience becomes the detective, challenged to unlock symbols, methodology, techniques and art historical references. When does a drawing become an illustration, a poster, a comic book strip doesn’t necessarily matter to me. All can be done well, some a quick gotcha - others a book. When a narrative work hits that universal truth, its meaning can adapt and change with the times. Other works perhaps document a significant moment or series of events. Over time the most honest of those works sometimes find their way in and out of popular culture. Whose voices are amplified, when and why, become part of the mystery  itself. Enjoy!

Boat Ride
2023
18” x 24”
Graphite on Paper

 

Run
2023
16” x 20”
Graphite on Paper

Dinner Out
2023
18” x 24”
Graphite on Paper

Concert
2022
9” x 12”
Graphite on Paper

Sedona Arizona Landscape Drawing Hikes

 This series of observational drawings are from Sedona. I love this part of Arizona, where each day the the mountains reveal different colors are textures. The sunrises and sunsets are unique and some of the most colorful scenes I’ve ever witnessed. There are teal, gold, blues, turquoise, magenta. The full spectrum of colors and values. Oak Creek Canyon, Verde River, West Sedona. Each place has it’s own unique ambiance, color and voice.  

There are a ton of trails to choose from some constitute a full day trip to truly enjoy. I spent a few days exploring western Sedona on this trip. It’s a place I had rarely taken time with. The trails immerse one in nature quickly. I walked, stopping to draw various scenes, flowers, trees, rock formations and cactus. The drive out Dry Creek Road and Boynton Pass Road was delightful. I had to keep pulling over to take in the views.

These sketches are like field notes, jotting down marks inspired by the full experience of this place. The days I was there were slightly overcast, cool, clear with little wind or atmospheric dust. Perfect for drawing. I used the basics, a variety of pencils, a few colors, eraser on Strathmore and Arches papers.

The sketches are source material for a series of 18” x 24” acrylic paintings. Both the drawings and paintings will be available for viewing, and sale on my website. 

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Thoughts On Drawing: When I wake, I draw

 Thoughts On Drawing: When I wake, I draw.

It has often been said drawing is the core of art, the seed where ideas begin. Some call it a doodle, a sketch, a mind map, an observation, a note, writing. The academic approach is to learn how to create a believable three dimensional environment. Drawing is pre-verbal, primal. The language of drawing so clear and direct.

We can draw with pen and ink, a burnt stick, metal, graphite. Drawing as a way of processing ideas, a form of deep meditation, of switching intelligence. Drawing allows for the experimental, ethereal, spiritual, a voyage into the great unknown.

When drawing I have two primary sources; observational and internal. I bounce between the two. Observational drawing is demanding, we draw what we see - not as we want it but as it is - casting marks and dots of light - doing our best to capture a specific moment, before the lights and shadows change too dramatically. What emerges is our own voice, our own poetic intuition, but the scene is prescribed. This gathering of visual language finds its way into the internal drawings. Internal drawing is as vast a galaxy as observational, trusting intuition and tens of thousands hours of practice.

Illustrations are perhaps refined drawings, with more attention to contrast and graphic lines. There may be a prescribed literary or conceptual objective, or a random meeting. Eventually drawing and illustration merge, then divert again.

Building Your Drawing Collection

People seem to buy a work on first glance - it’s a very intuitive heart process. A work just speaks to you. Next on the list is price, does the work fall into your budget? Drawings tend to be much more affordable than paintings. Do you need to set up a payment plan? How will you store or display the work? When we buy a framed work, we are buying the frame as well, that can double the cost in some cases. I sell mostly unframed work unless the client asks otherwise. Unlike paintings most drawings bought directly from the artist are unframed, allowing for the client to frame the work in a way that corresponds to their interior design.

Preserving and collecting drawings is an affordable way to build your collection. When not on display they can easily be stored, and come in a variety of sizes. I include a Certificate of Authenticity with each work, insuring authorship in perpetuity. 

Afternoon Walk
11” x 15”
Pencil, Colored Pencil on Fabriano
2022
$230. Unframed /Include Certificates of Authenticity
Shipping $20.

Conversation
9” x 11.5”
Ink and Watercolor on Fabriano
$150. Unframed /include Certificates of Authenticity
Shipping $20.

 

Soldiers Creek
9” x 12”
Graphite on Fabriano
2022
$150. Unframed /Include Certificates of Authenticity
Shipping $20.

Catalinas
Note cards
$10.00
($3.00 shipping)
Set: Five Cards (3.75 x 5.5") 5 envelopes

Wheel of Time
11” x 17”
Graphite on Paper
2020
$260. Unframed /Include Certificates of Authenticity
Shipping $30.

You can purchase these and many other works exclusively at: www.MichaelBSchwartz.com