Michael Stoughton, a Midtown Memphis artist, graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1971. From 1980 to 1995, he was a resident of New York City, working in the fine art field. He served as an art conservator for the Modern Art Museum and the Whitney Museum of Art. Later, he was employed by the Pace Gallery and the James Goodman Gallery in NYC.
Michael has had numerous exhibitions in NYC, LA, Miami, New Orleans, and Paris. He also worked on three movies made in Memphis: ‘People VS Larry Flynt’, ‘The Rainmaker’, and ‘Road To Graceland’.
His family resides in a home he built on the Connecticut shore. Michael has designed and built interiors and has also made hand-crafted furniture. He considers this an extension of his art.
Among the countries Michael has visited are Europe, Japan, Indonesia, and India. He has also traveled extensively in the United States and Canada.
It has been awhile since he put brush to canvas or panel. Michael has preferred photography in recent years. The exhibit at Gallery Fifty Six has been an opportunity to set photographic themes that keep recurring for him in Memphis into classical art forms: painting and sculpture. It is a personal iconography of things he likes about Memphis.
Artist and art professor Cedar Lorca Nordbye is creating a mural on the building next door to the gallery. Mr. Nordbye came up with the idea to have a mural created in conjunction with Gallery Fifty Six's WINTER INVITATIONAL. The mural will be painted on the front of the vacant building on the west side of the gallery. Thanks to the owner, Aimer Shtaya, for allowing the artists to create the mural. The building will be converted into a restaurant, Casablanca, in the near future. 
You are invited to the artists' reception for the New Talent: 2013 exhibition on Friday, January 4th, 2013 from 5 until 8 PM.
Michael Stoughton, a Midtown Memphis artist, graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1971. From 1980 to 1995, he was a resident of New York City, working in the fine art field. He served as an art conservator for the Modern Art Museum and the Whitney Museum of Art. Later, he was employed by the Pace Gallery and the James Goodman Gallery in NYC.
