Michael Fitts began painting on scrap metal in 1992. What Fitts found immediately appealing was the sheer variety of surface tones and textures that he would come across in his search for sheet metal. For Fitts, surfaces are very important, more important than the subjects painted on them. Of particular interest are scrap pieces that have markings or distressed dents and scratches that were produced long before the discovery of the piece. Collaboration with those past forces, elements and people keeps the process evolving and interesting.

 

Fitts also enjoys the process of retrieving materials from the trash heap and breathing new life back into them through his paintings. The subjects he paints in oils are drawn from the most generic of popular cultural visuals, with much emphasis on objects that are used once, then discarded and quickly forgotten. The unexpectedness of elevating the importance of ephemeral objects to the status of art is what Fitts find most interesting. 

Michael Fitts was born in Washington D.C. in 1961. He received his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1989.

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