Michael Schrauzer

Michael Schrauzer's haunting paintings are rich and complex, incorporating ancient Christian understandings of sacrament, symbol, and ritual. As Gordon Fuglie wrote in his essay on Schrauzer in Image #12: "In [his] fusion of Catholic spirituality with modernity, his update of the medieval/Renaissance tradition and his devotion to craft, [Schrauzer] seems to chart new territory between the historical past and the modernist present, as well as asking for a more contemplative viewing than most moderns are prepared to give."

The Annunciation, 1994. Oil on panel, maple. 11 x 12 inches. Courtesy of the Lizardi/Harp Gallery.

To read Fuglie's essay in full click here.

Michael Schrauzer's Current Projects

"When not teaching art at Point Loma Nazarene University, I'm writing a novel set in seventeenth-century Germany, concerned with alchemy, cryptography, philosophy, and theology, and focused on the invention of the air pump and questions about the vacuum. This is a relatively long-term project—I expect completion in perhaps two years. Visual art making has been on hiatus during this period, but ideas are percolating, and when my eyes get too tired to look at the computer monitor, I'll be back in the studio."

Biography

The Expulsion, 1989-90. Oil on panel, copper. 27 1/2 x 31 inches. Courtesy of the Lizardi/Harp Gallery.

Michael Schrauzer was born in Munich, Germany, in 1960. He received his BA in Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego, graduating summa cum laude. He received his MFA from The Claremont Graduate School, where he was awarded the Emily Ann Horowitz Memorial Fellowship. His work has been represented by Lizardi/Harp Gallery in Los Angeles and exhibited throughout the country.