Jerry Michalak

Hudson River Valley New York

Jerry Michalak’s roots trace back to Polish and Czech lineage, though he was born and raised in upstate New York. He is a painter and educator whose practice bridges observation and abstraction, exploring the quiet transformation of landscape through time. A graduate of the State University of New York at New Paltz, he studied under Modernist Alexander Minewski and Abstract Expressionist Joop Sanders, completing a postgraduate degree in painting and photography.

In recent years, Michalak has developed a distinct series of abstract winter landscapes, particularly wooded scenes rendered in restrained palettes. These works echo composer John Cage’s idea that “There’s not enough nothing in it,” inviting viewers into a contemplative space where visibility dissolves and form give way to atmosphere. As New York Times critic Benjamin Genocchio wrote, “Beginning with depictions of landscapes, he gradually covers them with layers of white paint until they disappear, imitating the effects of a snowstorm… they are incandescent.” (Weather Channel, Islip Art Museum).

While snow, winter and the environment remain prominent themes, Michalak’s imagery is drawn from decades of sketches and photographs captured in the Hudson Valley. His recent mixed media works fuse memory, texture, and time, suggesting seasonal impressions rather than fixed moments

In his recent works he presents a series of paintings featuring abstract forms clashing with underlying rock formations and the nature of erosion and decay; compositions that evoke both visual friction and a geological presence. This body of work deepens his ongoing exploration of the landscape by introducing structural tension and grounding abstraction within the physicality of soil and stone.

In another series of paintings, he employs a softened palette and weathered textures to reflect themes of environmental fragility and erasure. Across these works, Michalak captures not just the changing landscape, but the fleeting emotional and sensory impressions it leaves behind.

Selected Exhibits:

2025 - Woodstock Artists Association, Active Members Exhibi

- Arbor Gallery, Carmel NY, Juried Exhibit

2024 - Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY, Fine Arts Exhibit

- Putnam Arts Council, Juried exhibit

2023 - Putnam Arts council, Mahopac NY, Juried Exhibit

- Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY, Fine Arts Exhibit

2022 - Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY, Fine Art Exhibit

2021 - Putnam Arts Council, Mahopac NY, Online Juried Exhibit

2020 - Wired Gallery, High Falls, NY, " (Re) Wired " Invitational Exhibit

- WAAM, "FOCUS ONLINE, A Different Kind of Now" Juried Exhibit

2019 - Beacon Arts, Beacon NY., Members Exhibit

- Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, "Focus-A Better World" juried exhibit

2018 - Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, "Focus-the Abstract Heart " received JUROR'S AWARD

2017 - Gallery 66 NY, Cold Spring, NY., Juried Exhibit

2016 - WAAM Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock NY Solo Show - April 2016

- Gallery 66 NY - Cold Spring, NY - "Survey of Regional Artists" Invitational Exhibit

2015 - Kent Art Association, Kent Ct - Juried Fine Arts Exhibit

- WAAM Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock NY - "Noteworthy" Invitational Exhibit

- Gallery at The Falcon, Marlboro NY - Solo Exhibit (18 paintings from 2013-2014)

2014 - Arts on the Lake, Lake Carmel NY - Fine Art Exhibit

2013 - Art in the Loft, Millbrook NY - Juried Exhibit

- Pour House Gallery, Poughkeepsie NY - Solo Exhibit

- Putnam Arts Council, Mahopac NY – Juried Fine Arts Exhibit

2012 - Warner gallery, Millbrook NY – “Snow Bound” Solo Exhibit

- Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie NY - Fine Arts Exhibit

2009 - Islip Art Museum, Islip NY – Invitational Exhibit

Artist's Statement:

My work is deeply rooted in the evolving appearance of wooded landscapes and wetlands, with a sustained interest in the textures and tonalities found in winter environments. With a foundation in black and white photography, I spent several years documenting ice, water, snow, and the dense bramble that defines these natural spaces. Over time, that photographic practice began to influence my painting, leading to a body of work that translates these elements into mixed media on paper and abstracted snowscapes on canvas.

Earlier paintings often began as realistic drawings, then evolved through layers of white pigment that blurred, fragmented, and partially obscured the forms beneath. This process of layering, re-drawing, and reshaping became central to my visual language. Critics have observed that this technique “imitated the effects of a snowstorm,” as imagery gradually disappears beneath cumulative gestures.

In recent years, I’ve focused on compositions that interpret the seasonal colors, fractured forms, and tangled textures of nearby woodlands. Many of these pieces reflect on nature’s ongoing tension, its cycles of growth, decay, and disorder shaped by the passage of time. The broken, frozen, trampled, and distorted elements within these landscapes provide the structural and conceptual foundation for the work.

Furthermore, I am exploring imagery inspired by waterfalls and the decay and erosion of the landscape, some rendered as narrative images while others lean into abstraction. These pieces reflect both observed reality and imagined topographies.

A key influence in my artistic outlook is American Modernist John Marin, who once described his work as “a disorderly orderly sort of thing… painting disorder under a big order.” That idea—of finding structure within chaos—continues to inform my approach to both content and composition.

Jerry lives and works in Holmes, New York,

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