Michael Nauert was born in 1988 in Southern California, where he still lives and works. Awarded with scholarships and grants to study at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, he received a BFA in 2017. He also studied at Ox-Bow School of Art in the summers of 2015 and 2017. His art practice focuses on abstract oil paintings and carved wood paintings based on nature, resonance, and mind-space.

The direction of Nauert’s work has been informed by paradigm shifts in his life. Starting from a place of limitation and restraint, Michael came to a catharsis painting in the jungles of Belize that freed him from rigidity. The literal blossoming of his work is apparent from this moment forward--a release of hesitation and a trust in noetic sensibilities that became unlocked in the divine beauty of these unfamiliar landscapes. After spending time in Los Angeles and bearing the structure of living in the city, he was moved to create a mobile art studio in order to further immerse himself in natural surroundings. The peace of a setting removed from daily confines honed his ability to connect with mystical influence and bring it into his pieces; the impact is clear in his palettes and forms.

In his outdoor studio Nauert squirts paint from tubes exploring themes of energy, angelic language, morphic resonance, microorganism in plants and underwater creatures, fear and courage, alterity, sublime, and the infinite cycles of life and death. It is artists like Hilma Af Klint that awakened Michael’s connection to the concept of Angelic Linguistic. Perceiving Consciousness and Subconsciousness as fields, seeing them morph and change constantly, it is through bonding that it can be reached.  Each brushstroke is part of a conversation between the artist and the untapped ideas that lie just beyond our everyday cognition; from canvas and self-carved wood his works take form organically, rather than being the result of careful planning. 

Through the artist’s approach and from a cosmological perspective, concepts of morphic resonance and morphic nature––leaves and coral reefs, are recurrent. Nature brings to existence the unknown language of memory and cycles of environment as a speculative perceptual experience. His choice of palette reflects this, earthy tones in combination with warm hues that encompass the earth’s environment. Many of these works reveal their own memory in the cycle of Nauert’s life into the realm of abstract.

In 2014, Michael Nauert was part of a group show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and was a finalist for Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki co. shown in Japan. In 2019, he was invited to participate in an exhibition at the Torrance Art Museum titled “Run Straight Through''. He has been featured in many periodicals including New American Paintings (Issue 125), Art Maze Magazine, Friend of the Artist Magazine, and Floor Magazine. Since 2014, he has participated in many group exhibitions and duo exhibitions throughout the United States. Walking in My Own Steps, presented at Simard Bilodeau Contemporary in the spring of 2023, is Michael Nauert’s first solo exhibition.