Michael Lombardo American, b. 1990
Biography
Michael Lombardo, John Denver, 2025, Oil on linen, 35.6 x 30.5 cm
Michael Lombardo’s works centre on depictions of objects marked by touch and time -well-worn concert shirts, glittering Western wear, Oklahoma rose rocks, conch shells, and keepsakes tied to the mythology of the American West. His shaped canvases take on the presence of sculptural artefacts, framing these items with a reverence that borders on devotion. In many of the works, the surface holds actual red dirt gathered from Oklahoma and Panama, tow places that represent his dual heritage, thus anchoring the paintings in a geography that is both physical and ancestral. Relief-like textures and intimate vantage points elevate these ordinary fragments into symbols of desire, memory, and care.
Lombardo’s work resists easy nostalgia. Instead, it draws from a deeper emotional register- one where personal imagery becomes a shared point of recognition. A pearled snap may echo the thrill of first affection; a sun-faded souvenir may stir the memory of a formative journey. These objects trace the contours of the artist’s own past, but also opens a space for viewers to locate their own -through recollection, through place, through the objects we carry forward. These paintings do not merely reference history; they hold it close, transforming memory into texture, light, and presence.
Michael Lombardo (b. 1990, Norman, Oklahoma) creates paintings that draw from the material culture, objects, and visual remnants of the American West and Great Plains. His works weave regional references with personal recollection, rendering both fleeting moments and treasured heirlooms in enlarged, meticulously detailed compositions.
Subtle echoes of landscape permeate the canvases, grounding them in a distinct sense of time and geography. Oklahoma’s iconic iron-rich red dirt - gathered during Lombardo’s returns to his home state - appears not only as a formal textural element, but as a literal marker of origin, embedding an autobiographical trace within the surface of the paintings.
Light, too, becomes a defining medium in Lombardo’s tableaux: the luminous sheen of a pearl-snap satin shirt, the sparkle of rhinestones, and the sun-bleached patina of collected rose rocks from flat, weathered terrain are given heightened presence and clarity.
By distorting scale, perspective, and proximity, Lombardo reimagines familiar objects drawn from personal archives and lived experience. In doing so, he transforms recognisable fragments of place into vivid meditations that honour the quiet, unassuming moments of regional memory and the ephemeral textures of everyday life.
Michael Lombardo has been the subject of solo and group exhibitions at Noon Projects, Los Angeles, (2025); The Hole, Los Angeles (2024); Barbati, Turin (2023); Cadet Capela, Paris (2023); 1226, Dallas (2023); G/ART/EN Gallery, Como, Italy (2023); and Brackett Creek Exhibitions, New York (2022). Lombardo lives and works in Los Angeles. His UK debut solo exhibition will take place at Cob Gallery in 2026.
EDUCATION
2014 BFA Painting, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
2025 Pearl Snap, NOON Projects, Los Angeles, California
2023 Solo Booth, Barbati Gallery, Artissima, Turin, Italy
2023 Cactus Bloom, Clip-On, Cufflinks, Wrangler, Cadet Capela, Paris, France
2022 BOBBY LA & Institut für Bild und Objektfor Michael Lombardo & Anthony Renda, Brackett Creek Expositions, New York, New York
2015 Faux Casual, LUPA; a collaboration with Diablo Rosso and Frau Lamb, Panama City, Casco Viejo
2024 Becoming a Swan (Going Through the Veil), NOON Projects, Los Angeles, California
2024 Hollywood Dream Bubble: Ed Ruscha’s Influence in Los Angeles and
Beyond, The Hole, Los Angeles, California
2024 Clipper Cuts, Private Apt, Brussels, Belgium
2023 Untold Stories, Garten Gallery, Como, Italy
2023 The Range, 12.26 Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2023 Imperfect Paradise, Barbati Gallery, Venice, Italy
2022 Brackett Creek Invitational, Brackett Creek Expositions, Bozeman, Montana
2021 Via Sanborn & Sunset, BOBBY LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles, California
2019 Guy & Gals, BOBBY LOS ANGELES, Group Show - Los Angeles, California
2016 Artist Issue, Jerónimo, a collaboration with GOGO mag and nine featured artists, Panama City, Casco Viejo
2014 Busman's Holiday, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
2014 Arte Panameño Ayer & Hoy, Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Works
-
Michael LombardoCompost I, 2025Oil on linen15.2 x 12.7 cm
6 x 5 in -
Michael LombardoJohn Denver, 2025Oil on linen35.6 x 30.5 cm
14 x 12 in
Fairs
