Michael Kareken: Ebb and Flow

on view  August 30, 2025 - December 28, 2025

Michael Kareken, Tip Floor (2010), Oil on canvas. 78” x 156” (triptych, 78” x 52” each)

Minneapolis-based artist Michael Kareken transforms everyday discarded materials—scrap metal, cardboard, paper, glass, plastics, and car parts—into striking works of art. Through intricate drawings and large-scale paintings, Kareken explores the cyclical journey of raw materials, tracing their evolution from consumer goods to discarded remnants, and ultimately, to renewed forms. These works go beyond mere representations of recycled objects; they evoke reflection on our culture of consumption, single-use practices, and the lasting impact of these materials on our environment. Ebb and Flow invites us to reconsider the beauty within the mundane and to reflect on the lifecycle of the things we discard.

Michael Kareken

Michael Kareken is a Minneapolis-based painter, draftsman and printmaker.  He has received grants from The Bush Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Minnesota State Arts Board, Arts Midwest, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and The Vogelstein Foundation.  He was a recipient of The Louise Nevelson Award for Art from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and was awarded a residency fellowship from the Millay Colony for the Arts. Kareken's work is in the collections of The Walker Art Center, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Minnesota Museum of American Art, and The Minnesota Historical Society, among others.  He has exhibited his work regionally and nationally, including in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Santa Fe, and is represented by Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis and Davidson Galleries in Seattle. He is Professor Emeritus at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design.

Support Comes From

This exhibition project is presented by the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, a nonprofit mission-driven art museum located on the shores of the Upper Mississippi River. MMAM gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from our Board of Directors, and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, individuals, members and volunteers. 

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.