MICHAEL BRANGOCCIO
Act 3, mixed media, 12" x 10"

In two decades since his MA from the University of Northern Colorado, Brangoccio has accumulated over 20 solo exhibitions and participated in 35 group shows in Florida, Maine, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Colorado, and California. Now working in Des Moines, the artist leaves no doubt about the intensity of dedication and energy behind his unique work.

Brangoccio's original content and textures create picture worlds like no others. A well-trained draftsman comfortable with formal composition, Brangoccio juxtaposes objects, sizes, and relationships to arrest attention, to provoke questions, and to prompt observers into finding personal meanings for his canvases.

Intentionally symbolic, Brangoccio's works present puzzles. Certain objects reoccur and present contradictions and inconsistencies of size, placement, object-selection. Elephants float. Bears roam in unlikely settings. Miniature airplanes seem aggressively out of place. Even in those few canvases which fit within the boundaries of realism, there is a hint of mystery, of something more-to-be-known. With Brangoccio's paintngs, a viewer must address enigmas and engage both left and right sides of the brain.

text and image from olsonlarsen.com