Sierra Madres

Michael Harnish’s paintings fuse abstraction and representation in a chaotic, exuberant harmony. Drawing from Southern California’s visual landscape—tropical plants, grocery store signage, skate culture, and 80s ephemera—Harnish creates layered compositions that feel both deeply personal and culturally omnivorous. Beginning with paper collages, his process embraces spontaneity and improvisation, evolving into paintings that are dense with color, gesture, and visual surprise.

With a high/low aesthetic that nods to both art history and everyday imagery, Harnish’s work resists easy classification. His canvases hum with activity: vibrant chroma, trompe l’oeil flourishes, and collage-like disjunctions invite viewers into a disordered yet intentional visual space. Unafraid of failure, Harnish embraces risk, allowing last-minute decisions and painterly disruptions to shape the final outcome. The result is a body of work that feels alive with experimentation—where success, blunder, harmony, and disunity all have a seat at the table.