Showcasing his talents: Local attorney wraps up first art show today

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Of the 38 paintings Mike Galligan has had on display at The Station-Pure Art, this one, called “The Processional,” has drawn a lot of attention, he said. The exhibit is open through today. (Amy Satterwhite photo)

After wrapping up his first public exhibition displaying recent paintings at The Station-Pure Art on Spring Street, Mike Galligan says he’s ready to move on.

Best known as a local attorney, Galligan spends his days engrossed in the technicalities of the law, but his art does not strive for that kind of perfection.

Rather, he strives for an off-shoot of the impressionistic-style of painting, where lines are distorted to create expression. His art has been on display since May, when Galligan and the gallery enjoyed a successful reception of around 350 people. The exhibit will remain open through today.

“I have realistic images, but it’s not painted photographically,” he said of his style. “I want the viewer to have an emotional reaction to the scene. That will come about because of something I put in it, mostly without thinking about it, but doing it. It’s not a thought-out intellectual process.”

Among the 38 paintings on exhibit, mostly painted within the last one or two years, a piece called “The Procession” depicting a scene from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, has gotten a lot of attention during the last month.

Another painting depicts his view of bombs falling over a night sky in Afghanistan, while others are lighter in feeling and depict nature scenes and places he has visited.

Galligan said his time spent as a Marine captain in the Vietnam War influenced his feelings about the military or war, and he tends to bring some of those feelings to the canvas.

Although intrigued with painting after being influenced by a family friend who was a Russian folk artist at age 12 and continuing to paint into his college years, the exhibit is something he almost didn’t have.

He put down his brush when his professional life started, and it was more than 30 years between his paintings. His interest was renewed about four years ago when he obtained a book depicting Winston Churchill’s paintings, which led him to begin painting again, he said.

He does not have a lot of formal training beyond the influences of his youth or the guidance of local fine artist Monty Wanamaker, but prefers to paint because it is way to express himself and simply, because he likes it.

“It’s what keeps me out of trouble on the weekends,” he said.

Art gallery owner Vicki Monroe Spivey said she knew Galligan painted and recruited him to put his work on display, which has benefited all concerned and brought a lot of people downtown.

And while equally complimentary of the of the gallery and its availability to the community, Galligan appeared pleased the show was considered successful.

“Naturally, you’re a little apprehensive perhaps that people won’t like them, but at the same time, I was pretty comfortable with them and I felt like people would like them,” he said of his first showing.

“The enjoyable thing is actually the painting of them. But to paint them and put them in the closet is like a singer not singing. If that’s your art – if that’s what you do, then they’re to be visualized.”