Local painter shows the symbolism in animal life

For anyone who has sat through an art class doubting the professor-taught symbolism of an… For anyone who has sat through an art class doubting the professor-taught symbolism of an artist’s work, rest easy. Michael Ninehouser knows how you feel.

While much of his symbolism might seem easy to interpret, Ninehouser likes leaving things open to interpretation and refuses to explain what any particular painting means.

‘I like when people can get whatever they want out of my work. I don’t have a clear-cut target for each painting,’ he said. ‘If they don’t agree with what I think a piece means, then it doesn’t mean anything at all to them anymore. Sometimes people will tell me what a painting means and it is way better than what I thought it meant, so I go with that. It just shows that work is more powerful than the artist.’

The Greensburg native’s paintings, titled ‘on this, the land,’ are on display at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 707 Penn Gallery.

Take, for example, one business transaction based completely on this mentality.

‘Once a woman bought a painting of a big rabbit because she said it reminded her of her dead sister. If I had talked to her a couple minutes before and told her what I had intended, she probably wouldn’t have bought it,’ he explained.

Ninehouser’s display consists primarily of simplistic landscapes punctuated with violent imagery — a man with a wolf’s head shooting a deer, a horse dragging a woman. The colors are simultaneously muted and pungent. The Western-inspired browns, reds and yellows manage to make the paintings’ messages come to life, even if Ninehouser insists they weren’t intentional.

He describes his work as ‘semi-fleeting’ and explained that this series of paintings had more stable connectedness than any of his previous bodies of work.

‘Theme-wise, they all individually mean something, like a snapshot of a story. I think what makes them interesting is that something led to the event and then something definitely happens after this event. That’s what makes them important,’ he said.

Ninehouser’s exhibit also deals with the hierarchy between animals and humans.

‘I’m interested in this whole idea of land grabbing. Who owns property, who’s entitled to it — animals and humans at war,’ he said. ‘One side will never have a say since animals aren’t ‘intelligent.’ I don’t want to sound like a hippie — I mean, I eat meat — it just isn’t really fair.’

He explained that his approach to formulating a painting is very simple.

‘I do basic groundwork with sketching, but I actually just let ideas cook in my head. During the day I’ll think of the still shot and let it brew,’ he said. ‘It’s a very shallow process, but sometimes the process makes it have meaning. I won’t originally intend for the piece to have symbolism, but by the end they do.’

He also credits much of his inspiration to film, in which he also dabbles when he’s not painting.

‘I haven’t made anything beyond Internet shorts,’ he said, ‘but film is definitely a big deal to me.

‘I’m a big Wes Anderson fan. He’s a big influence for composition for me, more so than other painters. He does a lot with perspective and flat shots. He composes them like a stage, which is how I think of paintings. Way before I think of them as paintings, I think of them as a stage. The characters are like the actors to me,’ he said.

Ninehouser described his oil pieces as ‘drawings with a paintbrush,’ which he admits drives a lot of other painters crazy. Much of his style is self-taught, as he didn’t focus on technique skills while earning his bachelor’s in fine arts at Seton Hill University.

‘I didn’t get to dive too deep in studio art stuff, which might be good for what I’m doing because it has that naive kind of feel to it. If I had learned more rules it might not look so different.’

Peering through his round glasses, Ninehouser has an earnest sense of modesty, insisting that he’s ‘not incredibly good at painting. It’s evident that I’m still pretty fresh. I’m still learning.’

Despite having minimal years of painting experience, ‘on this, the land’ is definitely worth a glimpse.