STILLMAN
Michael Stillman was born and raised in Las Vegas. At age 6 his father built him a dark room and taught him about photography, it has been his life’s passion ever since. In 1959 Michael moved to San Francisco to study acting – but spent more time photographing other actors than acting. Shortly after, he moved to Los Angles where he spent the next 25 years working independently in film and photography. In 1984 Michael returned to Las Vegas to begin a new series of work inspired by the bright lights and big city.

Although Stillman had mastered photographing people he long wondered about abstraction. Borrowing techniques he learned from theater set design and movie production, this veteran photographer built sets and reflected light off of water, oil, broken glass and other surfaces to create mesmerizing images. In the 1980’s Stillman was one of the few photographers experimenting with abstract photography and landed on such a successful series of over 200 images. Stillman’s light-painting photographs are abstract menageries of fluid shapes and energetic colors – all shot on film and without any digital manipulation. This rare collection was shot during the 1980’s & 90’s with 35mm and 4×5 view film-based cameras. Stillman lives in Las Vegas and currently spends time photo archiving the growth of the new Lou Ruvo Brain Institute to Keep the Memory Alive.

Exhibitions
1973 Etna Bank, CA
1974 Wells Fargo Bank, CA
1980 Art in the Park, Beverly Hills, CA
1980 Art in the Park, Studio City, CA
1988 Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV
1991 Flamingo Library, Las Vegas, NV
1992 Donna Marie Lull Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
1996 Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
1996 NICA, Las Vegas, NV – Winner Biennial Artists Competition
1997 Jessie Metalf Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2001 Las Vegas Art Museum – 25 year retrospective, 250 works, Las Vegas, NV
2001 George Sturman Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV
2001 T. Curtsnog Gallery, Miami, FL
2001 Markman Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2002 Amaranth Gallery, Reno, NV
2002 Ceasars Palace, Las Vegas, NV
2003 McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, NV

Collections
Desert Radiologist, Las Vegas, NV
Elizabeth Nemic, Colonial Bank, Las Vegas, NV
Brandon DeHannens, Half Dental, Las Vegas, NV
Bruce Anderson, Las Vegas, NV
Robert Graham, Esq, Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV