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C T I N N O V A T O R S , 2 0 2 3 1 5 MICHAEL RICE Muralist Michael Rice quit corporate comforts to become a public artist Pursuit of Passion >> BY AMAN KIDWAI Michael Rice, 42, is a self-taught, full-time painter and muralist. But it wasn't always that way. His career started in the corporate realm, an unconventional path for many artists, but one he said helped him aer he quit his New York City job and moved to Hartford five years ago to pursue art full time. "I learned some skills along the way that a lot of people that might have gone the fine art route [would not]," Rice said. "You get some communication skills, some inter- personal skills, and an understanding of what clients want — how to work with them." Rice was speaking from a project site in New Britain, where his latest canvas is an apartment complex wall. ere, he's painting a stylized portrait that matches the building's edgy, urban theme. He recently completed an 18-story mural in Hartford — described as the largest in New England — that used approximately 864 spray paint cans to cover the concrete side of a ho- tel-turned-apartment building facing I-84 on Morgan Street. "He has such a unique style," said Amanda Roy, director of equitable arts advancement at the Greater Hartford Arts Council, which contributed a $50,000 grant to Rice's Hartford mural. "e forced perspective that he uses and three-dimensional elements of it were something that we were immediately drawn to." She pointed to a robot butterfly mural Rice did in York, Pennsyl- vania, as one that stood out to her for its gripping style. Roy said Rice is an artist that's easier to work with because of his ability to meet deadlines and stay within the parameters of an assignment and budget. "You like working with artists that are able to do that," Roy said. Rice brings an "unprecedented level of detail and creativity," to the Hartford arts scene, said Matt Conway, executive director of RiseUp, a nonprofit sponsoring and arranging public art install- ments around the state. "e level of art that Mike has brought to Hartford has really elevated the whole city as an arts community because he's local here, his studio's right in Hartford." "A lot of times," Conway added, "cities across the country need to import (artistic) talent. … We're so lucky here because we have world-class talent right in the Greater Hartford area, Mike Rice be- ing one of the top." One of his favorite Rice pieces is a three-dimensional parrot coming out of a wall on Hartford's Park Street. Some of Rice's other work includes the popular Husky mural at Rentschler Field, where the UConn football team plays home games, and signage around Hartford's Parkville Market. "I've been doing a lot of public art around the area recently, hop- ing to make some sort of an impact," Rice said. e record-setting mural in downtown Hartford — funded by $110,000 in grants and contributions — is of a child holding an open jar with fireflies escaping from it, meant to express hope and wonder. e Husky mural frequently has a line of spectators wait- ing to take their photo next to it. "I want it to be something the whole community can enjoy," Rice said of his work, which is influenced, in part, by the 1980s and 1990s counterculture as well as today's technological landscape. "I think the mural, and public art in general, can add color, can add a sense of life happening. To me, it almost creates a sense of safety and com- munity." Safety, community, color and a sense of hap- pening are all attributes that Hartford's city- scape could use more of. e COVID-19 pan- demic hampered downtown activity with the rise of remote work, leading to a sharp rise in empty office space and storefronts. But that's changing, thanks to the efforts of people like Rice, and local groups aiming to ad- vance the cultural milieu of the Hartford area. 'Broke' and 'scared' Rice went to school for graphic design. Aer some college, he said he worked in fairly stan- dard corporate jobs, on the creative side, such as advertising, copy- writing and design. He even worked as a recruiter at one point. Rice recalled when he decided to leave that life, holding a high-paying New York City job with a pleasant, somewhat absent boss — a "great gig" as he explained it. So why leave? "I just wasn't feeling very fulfilled, and I knew I wanted to do something with my hands," Rice shared. In 2018, he quit his job, ended a long-term relationship that was trending toward marriage, moved out of his apartment, and real- ized he could no longer afford to live in New York. At the recommendation of a family member, he took his tal- ents to Hartford, working odd jobs adjacent to the art community while he pursued professional artwork. is included part-time jobs in sign fabricating and art han- dling, "whatever I could do to scrape by," he said. Michael Rice Founder Michael Rice Art Education: High school, some college Age: 42 Continued on next page