Michael Næss

Michael Næss (b. 1984, Stavanger, Norway) is an artist based in Norway. His work operates at the threshold between the animate and inanimate, the interior and exterior, and the presence or absence of relation. His paintings consider what it means for something to appear alive, or to suggest consciousness, in situations where familiar human relations no longer apply. Forms and objects emerge with their own internal logic, and the work sustains these states of suspension without resolving them.

In the development of a painting, Næss works within the form as a sculptor works within material, locating detail through tonal inquiry rather than prior determination. What emerges at the level of the particular is found.

In 2025, Næss exhibited at Gallery Rusha (Los Angeles), Acid Baby Studio (Eastbourne, UK), Galleri Ågale (Stavanger, Norway), and the Kanvas festival (Stavanger, Norway). He studied visual art at Nansenskolen and specialized in painting at the Nordic Institute for Stage and Studio.