Michael Carson: Stuck in Italy

Bonner David Galleries Scottsdale presents Stuck in Italy, the latest solo exhibition from renown figurative painter Michael Carson, on view February 12–28 in Old Town Scottsdale, celebrating over twenty years of Carson’s career and his ongoing dedication to creative exploration and the joy of painting.

For Carson, longevity as an artist depends on keeping the process alive. “If it’s not fun,” he notes, “it comes across in the work.” After two decades of painting, Carson became increasingly aware that repetition and routine could dull the vitality of his art. Stuck in Italy emerges from a conscious effort to slow down, step back, and rediscover the sense of play that first drew him to painting.

Much of the inspiration for Stuck in Italy traces back to Carson’s most recent European travels. Rather than literal depictions, the influence appears through atmosphere and surface—ancient plaster walls, shifting light, and the understated elegance of European architecture. These elements bleed into the paintings as textured grounds, luminous color, and spatial ambiguity, evoking personal memory rather than the place itself.

Carson’s approach to painting is intuitive and improvisational. Working on as many as ten canvases at once, he moves from one to another without rigid preplanning, allowing mistakes, revisions, and chance discoveries to remain visible. He likens the process to free jazz—grounded in skill yet open to the unknown.