Santiago Michalek

Santiago Michalek's artistic ability presented itself early in life, following the influence of his grandfather, who introduced him to drawing. Santiago warmly recalls how, as a child, he and his grandfather drew horses while sitting on the veranda of his childhood home. Those intimate moments sparked a lifelong passion in Santiago, who has been advancing his craft as an artist and a painter ever since.

In 2003, Santiago started his own business; restoring vintage models of Volkswagen beetles and buses. He successfully turned his hobby of tinkering and love for VWs into a profitable business with multiple restoration projects. He also began to notice that VW owners shared a certain common quirk: each was completely devoted to Volkswagen vehicles, often passionately so. This fierce devotion resonated with Santiago, whose fondness for VWs compelled him to become a master on the vehicles, with a near encyclopedic knowledge of their makes and models throughout the car company's history. This in turn has led Santiago to capture some of these iconic auto images on canvas.

Though Santiago's VW paintings naturally reflect his love for the car, he also enjoys painting and drawing a broad range of subjects including vintage planes, trains and tractors.

Born 1978, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Selected Museum Exhibitions

• Springville Museum of Art, UT, Spring Salon, 2010, 2011, 2013
• Springville Museum of Art, UT, Spiritual and Religious Art, 2012
• Logan Center for the Visual Arts, UT, Fine Art Salon, 2011

Selected Solo Exhibitions

• Meyer Gallery, UT- Automation, Dec 2016
• Blue Rain Gallery, NM-  May 2016
• Meyer Gallery, UT –   Collective, 2017
• Meyer Gallery, UT – Road Trip, Nov 2014
• Meyer Gallery, UT- Combustion, 2013

Selected Group Exhibitions

• Meyer Gallery, UT 50^th Anniversary, June 2015
• Meyer Gallery, UT The New Old West, July 2013
• Meyer Gallery, UT December 2011
• The Bridge Academy, UT May 2011

Selected Press

• Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine – “Ways to Travel” June 2016
• DAS Auto Magazine, January 2012
• Goncourt Brothers, A Critical Catalogue of the 86^th Annual Spring Salon, 2010
• Southwest Art Magazine, 21 Over 31, November 2010

Affiliations

• Daily Herald Art Columnist

Private Collections

• Bass Pro Shops
• Larry H. Miller Group
• Canadian National Railways
• McKenna Volkswagen