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Born in 1975 in Schenectady, New York, Michael Schliefke followed his family to Portland, Maine and a suburban town in south-central Massachusetts. Michael took his role as a middle child seriously, and after spending years torturing his parents and siblings, he took his sarcastic outlook on life to the Kansas City Art Institute, where he was constantly amazed by the staggering levels of insanity around him. He hunkered down in the catacombs and up on the rooftops of the archaic painting
building and began his life as a painter.
He spent the years after school traveling the country and holding down a variety of jobs, from selling hot dogs at baseball games to touching up decorative oil paintings. His big break came when a high tech company took a flyer on this young go-getter who could type fast and accurately. After climbing the corporate ladder and spending all of his vacation and sick days in poorly heated youth hostels throughout Europe, he parlayed his working experience into a year long transfer to Cork, Ireland,
where he watched airplanes crash the economy and returned home to accept a generous layoff package.
Early in 2002, he once again hit the road and arrived in East Austin, where he has been able to concentrate solely on making art for a living. In addition to painting and showing regularly, Michael has curated a number of memorable art shows including the 'Will There Ever Be a Rainbow?' unicorn art show, the 'Father's Day Show', and most recently, 'Radical Nautical' at Gallery Lombardi.
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