who’s the weirdo in the costume?

michael kiyoshi salvatore is a californian millennial. he grew up in suburban canada in an idyllic catholic community in the nineties, pious and on a diet of commercial culture. ever the avid maker, he would draw, sculpt, and sew in worship of his favorite fads.

moving to southern california at the onset of his adolescence and the war on terror, the end of history utopia of his youth gave way to a cynical rage against religion and faith, revisioning good and evil in terms of the injustice perpetrated for the west’s benefit. despite recognizing the ever-constructed and power-laden nature of meaningmaking, michael was still drawn to the possibility of essential truths, finding art to be the one place to explore them.

in michael’s young adulthood, this flirtation was forced open into a spiritual renewal and acceptance of ideas he held in contempt. he began to find his wholly political and deconstructive worldview inadequate and self-destructive, seeking a deeper frame for existence. leaning into his ambivalence towards belief and doubt, michael continues to evolve his practice in public interventions and psychomagical experiences that disrupt everyday experience and to inspire moments of genuine connection and authentic expression.