Mike Ritch

Mike Ritch’s work investigates man’s changing relationship to the natural world. More specifically, Ritch explores our contradictory and conflicted relationship with the other animals and our continuing fascination with them. Though he is known primarily for his paintings his work reflects an interest in a diverse range of media including oils, watercolors, collage, printmaking, and sculpture.

Ritch’s inspiration often begins with a vague idea from a flashbulb memory of an experience, a news article, or perhaps a photograph or video he has seen online. He creates the image with an open mind allowing the painting to lead the way. In his work distortion and an emphasis on the properties of the material serve as a manifestation of the idea and as a record of the act of creating. The fluid and unpredictable nature of paint lends an element of chance to the process and appeals to his sense of art making as an act of discovery.

Ritch has exhibited extensively throughout the Bay Area and nationally. He currently lives and works in San Francisco.

Curriculum Vitae: Download

selected exhibitions