My work is primarily visual journaling - a way to process life and thoughts. I categorize my work into two general spaces: 1. Reactions - Experiences, places, or things I find interesting with little to no conceptual emphasis – a quick, unfiltered, direct response to something. Drawing for drawings sake. 2. Intentions - Layered themes rooted in personal interests of philosophy, environmentalism, biology, neurology, and the construction of the “Self.” A confrontation of the egotistical notion of superiority over the natural world. We are part of and equal to it. Those quick, thoughtless “reactions” and deeper, nuanced “intentions” are contradictory complexities we carry within ourselves. Life happens in the gray, against our desire to taxonomize and separate the world into black and white. Michael Rajnicek hails from Roseville, Michigan and holds a BFA from Grand Valley State University. He and his wife, Courtney, presently call Grand Rapids their creative home. Michael finds his greatest inspiration in nature; he enjoys running, hiking and biking in his free time.