Michael Reafsnyder

Michael Reafsnyder’s painterly abstractions convey a sense of delirious happiness. Although they look like the product of spontaneous gestural painting, Reafsnyder’s works are in fact carefully crafted to convey their sense of frenetic energy, each brushstroke, thick swath of acrylic, or vibrant color deftly deployed in the creation of an overall sense of manic exuberance. Falsely conjuring the Action Painting of Abstract Expressionism, Reafsnyder’s bright canvases are often more playfully sarcastic and confrontational than lyrical; he works a “smiley face” symbol into several of his otherwise abstract works.