ASHEVILLE, NC.- Bender Gallery a leading international fine art gallery in the southeast is presenting the exhibition "Balanced Solutions" featuring paintings by up and coming Chicago artist Michael Hedges. The exhibition opened on 7 September and will continue through 30 September, 2019.

The exhibition creates a platform for the rational discussion of the interaction of spatially placed colors and lines and how their interpretation may effect emotion. At first glance Hedges’ paintings appear totally random but upon closer contemplation a structure reveals itself to the viewer. The first effect is not one of confusion but a deepening desire to explore the painting. This is due to the balance of the underlying structure and strategic and strong placement of color throughout the work. This does not simply happen but is planned out and adjusted as Hedges goes through his process of placing layer upon layer, until the painting has a harmonious balance. Hedges' paintings create a vision that one can engage with for hours without tiring of it.

Hedges' work pays homage to the artists that began the Abstraction Expressionist movement and color field painting while working toward his own body of work. One can see influences of Willem de Kooning, Hans Hofmann and Mark Rothko but with Hedges’ own interpretation and creative mark making. This is a direction he has moving in for over twenty years. Hedges is a gifted painter that deserves to be noticed.

In Hedges own words, "My paintings are a synthesis of color, line, form and texture. They begin as a problem of two or more color relationships to be explored through form. The form is loosely defined by a drawing that acts as a skeleton and ecto-skeleton both beneath and above the finished work. The application of the media to the painting surface is of utmost importance to me. The paint is applied with great bursts of energy, creating a surface, if I am successful, that is supercharged with texture and color. I work multiple, usually around ten paintings at the same time, all centered on the original problem. This multiple approach allows me to go in different directions, very quickly building the energy that is critical to a successful painting. I strive to create intense, even and stunning color relationships that are balanced by form and texture into a controlled elegance. The challenge here is to create a vibration in the work that energizes it without separating."