{"id":24072,"date":"2025-07-31T00:03:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T00:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/?p=24072"},"modified":"2025-08-01T23:48:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T23:48:37","slug":"michael-owino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/2025\/07\/31\/michael-owino\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Owino"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"24072\" class=\"elementor elementor-24072\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2097ed8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"2097ed8\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a132a49 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a132a49\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.21.0 - 22-05-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\tYear of birth: 1965<br>\nWhere do you live: Copenhagen, Denmark<br>\nEducation: BA in Arts Education, Autism Specialist<br>\nDescribe your art in three words: Raw. Poetic. Honest.<br>\nYour discipline: Mixed media, sculpture, painting<br>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/michaelowino.com\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/mickowino\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d3a18a9 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"d3a18a9\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2112a42 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2112a42\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24073 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main-42.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"780\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main-42.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main-42-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main-42-768x599.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main-42-600x468.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/> Photographer: Maria Rand<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your work often explores overlooked moments of life \u2014 how do you choose which moments to highlight?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m drawn to moments that are rarely celebrated in contemporary art \u2014 like a grandparent\u2019s pride, the emotional shift in a father realizing his child is queer, or the quiet understanding between siblings. These are moments of deep emotional intensity that often go unnoticed in a world obsessed with speed and spectacle.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How does your background in storytelling influence your sculptural and mixed media work?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I started as a painter, then moved into music, and later writing \u2014 all before returning to the visual arts. That sequence is essential because it shaped how I understand narrative. Each sculpture, each piece of mixed media, is part of a larger story. I don\u2019t just create forms \u2014 I create characters, conflicts, settings. Even without text, there\u2019s a narrative structure embedded in the materials and composition.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24075 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-02.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-02.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-02-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-02-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-02-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-02-600x450.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/><\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of your works feature themes of emotional intimacy and family. Are these inspired by personal memories?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Often, yes. I\u2019m fascinated by what happens behind closed doors. I was raised by a loving but complex father, and I grew up as a rainbow child myself. I don\u2019t see these stories reflected enough in the art world \u2014 especially not through sculpture. So I tell them. With honesty and without sentimentality.<\/p><p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24074 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-00.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1485\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-00.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-00-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-00-724x1024.jpg 724w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-00-768x1086.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-00-600x849.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/><\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can you tell us more about your creative process \u2014 how do you balance sculpture, painting, and writing?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I live and work in a combined studio apartment, so the materials are always near. I work on sculpture with metal at an external workshop, but everything else \u2014 canvases, books, collages \u2014 is right at hand. I sketch and plan obsessively, so when I begin a piece, I know exactly where I\u2019m going. It\u2019s not chaotic \u2014 it\u2019s more like a composer with a score.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What role does your home-studio setting play in shaping your practice?<\/h4><p>It allows for constant immersion. I can wake up and start working within minutes. My bed is in the center of my studio for that reason. There\u2019s no divide between living and creating. That freedom is vital for someone like me who needs total focus. It\u2019s also a practical response to the way I live \u2014 as an artist, not as a tenant or guest in my own life.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24076 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Bea.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"814\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Bea.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Bea-300x233.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Bea-1024x794.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Bea-768x595.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Bea-600x465.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Michael Owino | Bea<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The contrast in your collages \u2014 between beauty and struggle, tradition and modernity \u2014 is powerful. What are you trying to communicate through this tension?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Life is contradictory. A father\u2019s joy can sit right next to his grief. Beauty can rise from oppression. My work isn\u2019t about resolution \u2014 it\u2019s about coexistence. I\u2019m interested in how we carry contradictions in our bodies and homes and families. And how art can hold those contradictions without smoothing them out.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24077 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Sisiters.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"814\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Sisiters.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Sisiters-300x233.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Sisiters-1024x794.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Sisiters-768x595.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Michael-Owino-Sisiters-600x465.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Michael Owino | Sisiters<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your works are both deeply personal and universally relatable. Do you consciously aim for this duality?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I aim for truth. I believe that if I go deep enough into something personal \u2014 a father\u2019s guilt, a child\u2019s liberation, a couple\u2019s bond \u2014 it becomes universal. That\u2019s where the power is. Not in making something \u2018for everyone\u2019, but in being so precise and honest that others recognize themselves in it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Year of birth: 1965 Where do you live: Copenhagen, Denmark Education: BA in Arts Education, Autism Specialist Describe your art in three words: Raw. Poetic. Honest. Your discipline: Mixed media, sculpture, painting Website | Instagram Photographer: Maria Rand Your work often explores overlooked moments of life \u2014 how do you choose which moments to highlight? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24072"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24552,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24072\/revisions\/24552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}