Chaos of Reality

An Exhibition of Paintings by Michael Myers

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things," the Buddha taught in his final moments. "Strive on with diligence."

The Chaos of Reality series is a direct, visceral testament to that truth. My canvases do not seek traditional harmony or decorative perfection; they are the raw, unedited evidence of survival. Having survived a devastating trauma that resulted in the amputation of a leg, the paralysis of an arm, a traumatic brain injury, and eight years of relentless chronic pain, my body has become an unfamiliar landscape of profound limitations. I am a former high-level competitive football player who once moved across the pitch with absolute freedom. Today, my physical center of gravity is permanently altered. A single fall to the wrong side carries the threat of total disaster.

Yet, I live.

Influenced by the monumental, structural black forms of Franz Kline and the total-body kinetic energy of the New York Abstract Expressionists, these paintings are my battlegrounds. Because a brain injury brings sudden fatigue, my time at the canvas is hard-won and intense. My paralyzed arm frequently burns with the phantom sensations of dull knives and sharp fingernails digging into my flesh. When I stand before the canvas, I do not paint to escape this pain; I paint to externalize it. I use the weight and momentum of my remaining limbs to hurl, strike, and gouge paint onto the surface, bypassing my injured neural pathways to speak in a universal language of force, gravity, and color.

The stark black structures represent the unyielding, heavy facts of trauma and the terrifying cages of medical PTSD. The explosions of raw reds, deep crimsons, and vibrant magentas represent the fierce, stubborn chemistry of hope.

These works are asymmetrical, precarious, and scarred—much like my own physical form.

But if I were dead, these canvases would be blank. They may not be masterworks by worldly standards, but they are my creations. Every slash of black and every drop of fiery crimson is an undeniable declaration of presence.

I am still here. I am still creating. I still exist.