Michael Farsetta

Michael Farsetta was born in Pearl River, New York in 1972, in a largely suburban area. Growing up, Farsetta was largely active in, and focused on, athletic training, as well as distinctly influenced by his diverse heritage. Growing up involved in sports, predominantly baseball and martial arts, gave Farsetta an active view of the representation of motion, which fostered the dynamic quality in his artwork. Exploring his Japanese lineage, Farsetta also developed an affinity for early Taoist-derived Zen Buddhism and became deeply interested in Zen’s influence on both Eastern and Western art, as well as finding guidance in the basic premise of Zen, being that the highest truth or understanding isn’t expressible in words. Taking representation through art to convey this ineffable principle, a maxim can be seen in Farsetta’s work.   Farsetta attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. Here he honed his artistic form studying fine arts and restoration while focusing in the mathematics of color, science and sacred geometry. Farsetta has stated that he believes “color is pure math and quantum physics” and has developed his style based upon this relative notion. Here, he began to collect the artistic influences that would serve to impact and advance his style. Farsetta had, from early childhood, been taken, more so than usual viewers, with the drawing, color and motion of Chuck Jones and his cartoon work. The bright colors, exaggeration and surrealism of Looney Tunes became a much deeper artistic principle to Farsetta and guided much of his work. Farsetta also became influenced early on by the dynamic comparative quality behind the work of Josef Albers, informing his view of the relation color played within itself. While studying at FIT Farsetta was also drawn to the work of early Abstract Expressionist painters Robert Motherwell and especially Franz Kline.   Farsetta began his artistic progression in figurative works, seeing the world in more clearly defined shapes and colors, before progressing towards Abstract Expressionism under the aforementioned influences of Kline and Motherwell. The influence of Jasper Johns may also be seen in Farsetta’s work in his inclusion of common, everyday objects into his work, expanding the world of fine art in Abstract Expressionism to a relatable common language for engaging through color and form the inexpressible