In ‘My Friend Stan’, Michael Scoggins provides an ironic and honest representation of childhood, as seen from both a youthful and adult perspective. Using his characteristic stick figure drawings, Scoggins depicts the short narrative of his friend Stan, written in a child-like handwriting on wide-ruled notebook paper. Scoggins’ illustrations show a smiling young boy, Stan, who “says he can walk on the ceiling” and his enthused cohorts who watch in awe. On the other side of a closed door stand the irate adults who “say Stan has his head in the clouds”, crushing their childish dreams with their wisdom.

American artist Michael Scoggins (b. 1973) raises compelling questions concerning America’s society in today’s state of political unrest, civil inequality, war crimes, and corporate greed. Referencing these issues through seemingly naïve and light-hearted illustrations reminiscent of doodles of action figures on homework assignments, Scoggins alludes to a loss of innocence. Scoggins received his BA from Mary Washington College in studio art and political science (1998), then continued his art practice at the renowned Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2003) followed by a MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Design (2006). He has since exhibited extensively throughout the US and Europe, with recent solo exhibitions at Galerie Jeanroch Dard, Paris, France (2010); Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL (2010); Seomi & Tuus Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2009); Hilger Contemporary, Vienna, Austria (2008); and Project 4 Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2008). He has received various grants and fellowships as well as given talks at the School of Visual Arts and the Museum of Modern Art. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Select Public Collections:

Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA
Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA