Michael Upton Creates Affordable Artworks at His Southern California Studio

For Michael Upton, the process of creating prints and sculptures starts by putting pen to paper. “I make very loose ink drawings, hundreds of them, so I’ll have stacks and stacks,” the former apparel and textile designer says. “I pin those up and stare at them for days or months, refining and editing, bringing in color and materials until they become finalized pieces.” His Upton studio is located in the Southern California town of Vista, and his affordable artworks, like Aurora, rendered in custom colors on museum-quality cotton paper or ready-to-hang cotton canvas, are screen-printed in nearby Los Angeles. His sculptures Tenere and Galston, on the other hand, are fabricated of painted seven-ply Baltic birch, while Paloma is TIG-welded steel finished with an intriguing aged black patina.