It’s
a combination of his twisted humor and a near life-long obsession with
monsters that makes Mike Maas’ artwork the unique experience that
it is. Mike studied, and the term must be used very loosely, art at Kendall
College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After graduation
he started a promising graphic design career at the headquarters of a
large national retail chain in downtown Chicago. The chain has since closed,
financial analysts blamed their inability to keep up with market trends,
but those who know Mike, know better.
Mike’s
eclectic influences range from the horror punk music of The Cramps to
the literary experiments of the great Kurt Vonnegut. If you throw in a
dash of 60’s advertising, underground comic books, classic b-movies
and crush it all together with a pop-culture hammer, then you have an
idea of what Mike’s work is like.
A multi-media
artist in the old school sense of the term, Mike uses several mediums
to express his “special” vision. He’s fashioned custom
resin kits, sculpted pieces using Super Sculpey and Magic-Sculpt, a two-part
epoxy resin, multi-dimensional masonite paintings, and he’s even
worked with such modern contrivances as computers to create. But however
he does it; Mike Maas always manages to incorporate interesting detail
and surprising symbolism into his unique brand of art.
Mike currently lives in sunny Tempe, Arizona with his wife, two cats, three birds, a bunny and a horse.
