As a self-taught artist shaped by the restless energy of 80s and 90s counterculture, Michael Rice works with realism the way some people work with intuition: patiently, attentively, as if coaxing the hidden story out of a subject, a gesture, or environment. Through textured surfaces, soft distortions and rich depth, his work invites viewers into a slower rhythm – one that stands apart from the hyper-speed and fragmentation of contemporary life.

Born and raised in Baltimore, MD and now based in Hartford, CT, Rice’s work is grounded in observation, human connection, and the quiet power of the everyday. He is drawn to real people and real environments: neighbors, workers, elders, animals, children, public servants, total strangers — figures who carry the weight and beauty of their communities. Often gravitating towards those that many overlook or glance over, but whose presence holds a neighborhood together without ever announcing itself, he paints them with an honesty that’s neither performative nor idealized, but rooted in presence. 

Though not overtly symbolic, each painting hints at something beneath the surface: a vibration in the light, a shift in atmosphere, a feeling that the visible world is only part of the story — suggesting that meaning is not delivered, but discovered.

In a time when images flash by and attention thins, Rice’s work acts as a subtle form of resistance. By rendering the material world with depth, care, and patience, he offers viewers a chance to pause — to look closely, to notice, to reconnect. His paintings do not seek spectacle. They simply hold space for what is human, speaking softly, but insistently, reminding us that slowness has a pulse and that the mundane world — when closely observed — edges into the miraculous.