Michael Pajon was raised in a working class family in the southwest suburbs of Chicago where he occupied his time bicycling, wandering around half-constructed homes, and building forts in cornfields. At the age of ten, his Grandmother walked him to his first comic book store where he promptly raided the twenty-five cent bin. Through this newly found hobby he taught himself to draw by copying the pages of Frank Miller’s Batman, Jim Lee’s X-Men, and EC comic reprints. He had also developed a habit of collecting not only comics, but old magazines and things that most would deem trash. He later attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 2003 with a focus in printmaking, gravitating to the graphic nature of the medium that closely resembled the comics he loved. He worked closely as an assistant and then studio manager to renowned artist Tony Fitzpatrick. During this time he started making assemblages of the bits and pieces he had accumulated from alleys, junkshops, and thrift stores, slicing up old children’s book covers and rearranging their innards into disjointed narratives. In 2009 he left Chicago and headed south, settling in New Orleans. He admits to being attracted to the city by its stories and food, but mostly by its architecture, that is in a uniquely gorgeous constant state of decay. He has exhibited internationally, most recently with Jonathan Ferrara Gallery at the VOLTA 10 Art Fair in Basel, Switzerland. He has had solo exhibitions in Houston in 2008 and in New Orleans in 2011 and 2012. He was hand-picked by former Prospect Director/Curator Dan Cameron to participate in Prospect 1.5 and Prospect 2.