Mike T. Cole is so country, he wasn’t raised; he was reared. Total freedom to be a solitary boy in the woods was all his. He spent long days playing, patrolling, hiking, imagining and investigating the landscape surrounding his home in North Central Pennsylvania. The land was his constant companion and they became bonded for life. In 2001, Mike Cole left the country for Philadelphia. He went to the head of the painting class at Tyler School of Art subsisting solely on canned ham and Jif. His work has recently branched out from painting into photography, installation and beyond. (though his Italian American Kryptonite genius wife cannot comprehend why he isn’t just painting her as various Venuses from art history). He misses the simple life of the country everyday and is drawing up plans for a hidden retreat to be built in the hot bed of his impending mid-life crisis.

www.miketcole.com

mtcole@ucdavis.edu