mike wolfram
digital artist + sculptor + printmaker
I am a multidisciplinary artist based in the Cincinnati area with nearly twenty years of experience in commercial animation and design. Complementing my digital background is a deep connection to physical craft, having spent a decade working with wood, including a formal woodworking apprenticeship in the Netherlands. Drawing inspiration from architecture, aerial landscapes, and complex geometry, I unite these disciplines to explore the relationship between tradition, technology, and perceived value.
Over the past three years as a full-time studio artist, my practice has focused primarily on wood and digital projection. I embrace the slow, meticulous nature of both animation and fine woodworking, with large-scale pieces taking many months to complete. My current work stems from an urge to imbue digital art with the same legacy as traditional woodworking, giving it a home in the physical world. In turn, the woodwork inherits the flexibility and experimental nature unique to digital work, creating a continuous conversation between two diverse mediums.
why is fine woodwork passed down as an heirloom, while digital art is treated as ephemeral?
My work challenges the perceived hierarchy of artistic mediums, examining cultural conceptions around how material and technique influence the value of art. I explore this tension by forging a symbiotic relationship between traditional craftsmanship and digital experimentation. By incorporating digital elements into meticulously crafted frameworks, I make this interplay between enduring tradition and modern technology a focal point of my practice.
Crafted using a combination of traditional and modern woodworking techniques, these structures serve as dimensional canvases for custom projection-mapped animations. Fusing these divergent methods ensures that each medium contributes vital qualities the other lacks.
At its core, this work is a maximalist exploration of form, color, and time. Lacking a single focal point, the dense, constantly shifting compositions invite viewers to lose themselves in the complexity. The longer they engage, the more arrangements they discover, resulting in a meditative experience that grounds them in the present reality.
