Artist Michael Rees  works in themes of figuration, language, technology and society.  While exploring these themes, his work crosses over many mediums, incorporating the sculptural with media and animation.  Rees is  the Director of the the Center for New Art at William Paterson University, where he is also a tenured professor.  He earned his Bachelor’s of Fine Art degree from Kansas City Art Institute and went on to earn an MFA from Yale University, where he studied with Alice Aycock  and Claus Oldenburg, among others.  Rees received the Deustcher Akademischer Austauschdienst, providing an opportunity to study at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, Germany with Joseph Beuys.

His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world, including notably the Whitney Museum and the OMI International Arts Center in New York, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO, MARTa Museum in Herford, Germany, and the Pera Museum in Instanbul, Turkey among many others.  Rees has received grants from Creative Capital, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.