Art

Artist's name collage

The Victim, 1988

Wax Oil Drawing

The Victim (Self Portrait), 1988 “This early wax oil drawing was what I considered my first serious art creation. It is a portrait of myself on my college bed with my legs sticking out at the bottom, my hands in the act of drawing the picture & a montage of all the brands & things that were in my dorm room at NYU back then. I spent a month working on this piece which was longer than any other project I had worked on up to that point in my life. It’s amazing to look at this now, over 30 years later & remember what my life was like back then & what I consumed & used at the time. The poster is rare & out of print, with only about 25 left from the original edition of 1,000. A limitedition Archival Giclee on paper or canvas is availabale for purchase as well.” M A

The Victim 1988

Sir Real Red Apple Man, 1994

Wax Oil Drawing 2" X 2", September 1994

Sir Real Red Apple Man, 1994 “This wax oil drawing was one of the first characters I created for the brand of fruit juices I founded in 1993. For each flavor there was a different fruit head with an eye wearing a tuxedo & sporting a bowler hat. The Red Apple Man was originally featured on bottles of organic apple juice & today can be found on jars of Apple Sauce & Apple Butter that I still make & sell under the Sir Real Brand. The original drawing on museum board is only 2” X 2” in size!” M A

Sir Real Lemon Man

Silkscreen Limitedition

Sir Real Lemon Man 1995

Sir Real Lemon Man American Image 2018

Portrait of An American Classic, March 30, 1996

Original Cereal Box Collage

The Birth of Cerealism  / Frosted Flakes #1 (Portrait of an American Classic), March 30, 1996,  9” X 12”, Cereal box collage on legal pad cardboard. The original art is in a private collection in St.Louis, Missouri, USA  “This is the first collage I ever made using a cereal box cover, or any consumer packaging for that matter. It was the beginning of a whole new phase of my art. After this, I decided to try & create many of these “portraits” of a whole array of “famous” and “classic” products. Over the course of several years I made hundreds (if not thousands) of these types of collages, which I later started calling ‘Cerealism’, but this was the first and therefore often refer to it as, ‘The Birth of Cerealism’. This collage actually changed the course of my life, or at least marks the exact point at which I began a whole new phase of my art & life.”

M A

Cheerios / Identical Twins, 8598

Cerealism / Identical Twins #1 8598

Cheerios  Identical Twins #1 August 1998 “After creating my first ‘Cerealism’ collage (Frosted Flakes #1 above), I began a phase where I would deconstruct & then reconstruct the covers of cereal box brands & then later all sorts of consumer brand packages in printed cardboard boxes. Within 3-4 years I had created over 700 original cereal box collages & close to 500 other brands including cookies, crackers, soda, rice, oat meal & many others. I thought it interesting how we could almost instantly recognize the brands no matter how abstracted I had made them. And I thought they were beautiful to look at. Almost like Jackson Pollack meets Andy Warhol and Picasso!  This unusual set of two collages created in August of 1998 featured two of the same exact Cheerios boxes all cut up into a pile of pieces & then composed into 2 separate but very similar individual cereal box cover collages.”  M A

Cerealism _ Cheerios (Identical Twins) 8598

Cheerios on Black Identical Twins #2 August 5, 1998 “This is is the second of the Identical Twins Cheerios Box collages created in San Diego in August 1998.”  M A

Cerealism _ Cheerios 2 (Identical Twins) 8598

Lucky Charms 122798

Cerealism Collage

Cereal Box Cover Collage / Lucky Charms created on December 27, 1998  One of the over seven hundred in Albert’s transformative “Cerealism” series of collages created between 1996-2001

Cerealism Lucky Charms 122798

Quisp Cereal 32920

Cerealism Collage

Quisp Cereal Box Collage created on March 29, 2020 is one of Albert’s Retro Cerealisms featuring the cover of the classic, iconic Quisp Brand that was popular during Albert’s childhood in the 1970s.

Cerealism Quisp 32920

Froot Loops 112497

Cerealism / Froot Loops 'Cover Version' Collage

This Cover of a Froot Loops Box was created on November 24, 1997

Cerealism Froot Loops 112497

Trix Cerealism Collage 1997

Trix Cereal Box Collage (Squares) created on January 4, 1997

Cerealism _ Trix 1497

Peanut Butter Cap'N Crunch 1197

Cerealism Collage

Peanut Butter Cap’N Crunch Cereal Box Collage created on January 1, 1997

Cerealim _ Peanut Butter Capn Crunch 1197

Rice Krispies

Cerealism Collage

Rice Krispies (Squares) Cerealism Collage 1998

Cerealism Rice Krispies 1999

American Flag

American FLAG, 1999  Limitedition Poster  “I began creating American Flags from Red White & Blue printed matter, initially during my sticker collage phase & later from consumer brand packaging.  My first flags were made from Priority Mail stickers and later cereal, cookie & candy boxes. My collage Flags have been described as a cross between Jasper Johns, the Pop Artist who made his famous Flag paintings in the 1950’s, and the paper cut-outs of Henri Matisse. This flag used the blue pieces from an Oreos cookie box & red pieces from a Coca Cola Carton attended upon a white museum board. ” M A

Empire State Building

Photo Collage

Empire State Building, 2000 “This photo collage was made from a postcard and is 4 X 6 in size. It is an example of the photo collages I started making out of extra & duplicate family photos around 1995 and developed into famous people & iconic images like this one. Here we have 2 different sized posters I have available. The larger one was the first edition printed in 2001 and there are less than 10 left of an original edition of 1,000. The smaller one was printed recently & there are still a few hundred left, hence the lower price point.” M A

The Last Breakfast 2001

The Last Breakfast, 2001 “This ‘Religious Study’ features one of my Sir Real characters, the Lime Man, surrounded by the 12 Apostles represented by famous iconic consumer brand characters. I had this idea after naming my Cereal Box collages, ‘Cerealism’. I thought to myself that if I am the artist who created ‘Cerealism’, then I should create my own version of the Last Supper (a famous classical theme in art history) & call it instead, “The Last Breakfast”! My version also features 21 ‘Golden Rule’ messages, all ideas that were perhaps discussed at this well known Biblical event?”  M A
The Last Breakfast retouched 2001

Love (Pink) 2002

C'Andy Warhol series

LOVE (Pink), 2002  / Pop Cubist “Portrait” of a Strawberry Charleston Chew package created in 2002 as part of Albert’s C’Andy Warhol series that was featured at Albert’s One Man Show at Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC in Spring 2003. The original collage was a collage created with the box that was used to merchandise the candy bars & a fine art canvas was produced 30″ on the long side in a limitedition.

Lovepink

York Peppermint Patty 2002

C'Andy Warhol series

York Peppermint Patty, 2002  from Albert’s C

Andy Warhol series. This image was debuted at Albert’s One Man Show at Dylan’s Candy Bar in 2002-2003

York Peppermint

Etude (Candy Logos A to Z) 2002

Etude (Candy Logos A to Z) is an original 32″ X 40″ collage created in 2002. It is a montage of candy & gum brand logos arranged alphabetically on an 8-ply acid-free white museum board. After being displayed at Dylan’s Candy Bar as the centerpiece of Albert’s one-man show, it was originally in the collection of John & Carmen Fernandez and then Paul & Abby Fernandez in New Jersey. It is now back in the artist’s collection.

This image is available for sale as a limitedition offset poster as well as a fine art print on archival rag paper with archival ink.

You Know What They Say, 2003

First All Text Collage

You Know What They Say, 2003  “After putting the messages in the top portion of “The Last Breakfast” collage in 2001, I had the idea to make a collage that was all messages. This was my first in that series & it involved several months of ‘collecting’ a list of phrases, proverbs & idioms that I felt conveyed wisdom before spending nearly 3 months making the 20” X 32” collage construction. These phrases when uttered by people are often preceded with the phrase, ‘You know what they say’!”  M A

"You Know What They Say' Piece by MA

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address, 2003 “After creating my first collage of just words & phrases called ‘You Know What They Say’  (see my book) in the Spring of 2003, I had the idea to recreate Lincoln’s Famous speech in the same way. Since it was famously short and only took Lincoln two minutes to give it during the dedication of the Gettysburg Battlefield Cemetery, I thought it would be easy, but it ended up taking me 5 months to create this collage! It became my first U.S. History based work & started a series of collages based on famous words and text. I have studied Lincoln & the Civil War period extensively and this collage literally gave my art a deeper meaning for me and inspired a study of famous words & texts which continues to this day. I also have a smaller version of this poster available approximately 11” X 14”. ”  M A

Grand Central Terminal

Photo Collage

Grand Central Terminal /90th Anniversary Poster, 2003 “In 2003 I was commissioned to create a collage to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of Grand Central Terminal in New York City. I used two photographs (one view off the outside view from Park Avenue & one of the interior & created this image which was made into a limitedition poster that you could only get during a one week period in the fall of 2003 and was FREE if you showed your receipt at the information booth for purchasing a train ticket at Grand Central.” M A
Grand Central Terminal 2003

I Am He

Lyric Collage

‘I Am The Walrus’, 2004  “In 2004 I began creating smaller scale collages featuring bits of text from history, literature, religious writings & song lyrics. I have continued to this day to read & listen carefully to identify sayings & quotes that are particularly interesting & meaningful to me. In this case, I spent a good amount of time listening to The Beatles & ended up choosing two lyrics that I thought represented their finest poetry and philosophy. This collage is the opening lyric from the song ‘I Am The Walrus’. I’ve also done numerous collages of another famous Beatles lyric, ‘All You Need is Love’ ”. M A

I Am He

The New Colossus

The New Colossus (Statue of Liberty), 2004 “This rare poster was one of my early history & poetry inspired collages that I started creating after ‘The Gettysburg Address’. It is also a girl power piece and as you can see along the bottom, Lady Liberty, the central figure, is surrounded by the 12 female apostles all chosen from iconic consumer brands.” M A

New Colossus poster statue of liberty 2004

The Signing of the Declaration of Independence

The Signing of the Declaration of Independence, 2005
This Epic scale 32” X 40” collage was the final artwork I created for inclusion in my book, “An Artist’s America(Henry Holt, 2008), an artist autobiography written for young people. After listening to a reading of the Declaration as well as the Constitution & the Amendment I decided this would be a perfect subject for my art. I included 56 characters from our consumer culture (including some of my own “Sir Real” characters) to represent the 56 signers, 13 brands to represent the original 13 colonies & made other references to this famous event in our country’s history.”
M A
Declaration of Independence 2005

To Be Or Not To Be

To Be Or Not To Be, 2006 “After creating many collages based on American themes I had the idea to give that a break for a while & began a study of several Shakespeare plays. After spending about 6 months reading & studying ‘Hamlet’ I created this Epic scale 32” X 40” collage of perhaps the most famous soliloquy in the English language. In addition to spelling out the entire speech, I picked characters from the brand packages to represent all the characters in the play, for example see in the top right corner the King character from King Vitaman & the Queen from Serendipity Frozen Hot Chocolate sipping the drink.” M A
To Be Or Not To Be 2006

The Preamble

The Preamble, 2007 Original Collage 32” 20” “ This is another of my history-based collages. I was inspired to create this after listening to the song about the Preamble to the U.S, Constitution from School House Rock, an educational cartoon I used to watch as a kid & one I’ve since watched again with my own kids! It is full of iconic images from consumer brand packages and I included other details about the Preamble including the date of its ratification & signing & the initials of all the signers of the constitution ‘hidden’ within the composition.”
M A
Preamble 2007

N0

No, 2008  “This was an idea that came to me in 2008. I always loved the story about how John Lennon & Yoko Ono met; that John had attended an art exhibition of Yoko’s and there was an interactive artwork where the viewer had to climb a ladder & then look through a magnifying glass at a tiny word written on the ceiling. That word was ‘Yes’ & I had the idea of spelling out the word as many times & with as many fonts as possible and then I put one tiny ‘No’ (which was very John Lennon-like) that I hid in the overall composition. This has become one of my most popular images. Can you find the ‘No’?”        M A

Yes (NO)

Map of the USA

Word Map

Map of the USA, 2008  “Inspired by Jasper Johns’ famous Map painting, I had the idea to use the materials I had been using for famous text and apply it to the idea of a Map. I put all the states, capitals, and other well known places in geographical order and worked on this 28 X 36” original work for close to 500 hours over a several month period. I have since made several other maps including the World, Manhattan, New York State, Long Island (where I grew up), Westchester County, NY (where I live now) & Pennsylvania, among others. A one thousand piece puzzle was made of this image that was in many stores all over the USA a few years back”  M A

Map USA 2008

All You Need is Love

All You Need is Love, 2008 “This lyric collage is a result of an in-depth study of the Beatles I made. I didn’t have to listen to all of their music (although I did!) to know this was one the defining lyrics of their immense body of work. It pretty much says it all. This is a limit edition Giclee print on paper that was printed in an edition of 49 for a show I had at a gallery in Red Bank, New Jersey.”  M A

All You Need is Love

Map of Manhattan

Word Maps

Map of Manhattan, 2008 “After creating my first Map of the USA, which featured states, capitals & other well known cities & landmarks, I started on this 32” X 40” collage street Map of Manhattan which took me over 6 months to complete. It features streets, avenues, bridges, tunnels, museums, and sections of the city as well as other details. I never realized how many famous places there are in New York City! If you Google, “Michael Albert Map of Manhattan 2009”, you will find an article in the NY Times about me & this particular collage.” M A

Words (Aspirations)

Words (Aspirations), 2009 “I began creating other word collages and some involved making lists. This 20” X 32” word collage features a collection of words of all the things I’d like to be and in this piece I arranged the words in alphabetical order. It was a fun exercise to think about about all the qualities I might aspire to, hence the title ‘Aspirations’ “. M A

The Number Pi (777 Digits)

The Number Pi (777 Digits), 2009  Original collage 32” X 20” “While talking to an enthusiastic math graduate student I had the idea to take all the numbers I could find on consumer packages & create a Pi collage to as many digits as could fit on my board. I first created a 10” X 10” Pi collage to 190 digits which is featured in my book, “An Artist’s America” (Henry Holt, 2008). Next I began collecting numbers for over 3 years until I had enough to create this Epic Pi collage to 777 digits. It took another 8 months to complete, making it the collage that took the longest amount of time for me to make thus far! Since then I have been working on a second Epic scale Pi collage starting at the 778th digit & I will see how many more digits out I can go!“   M A

The Quality of Mercy

Shakespeare Inspired Collage

Mercy, 2010 “I created this 20” X 32” collage of the famous passage from Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ when I found out that it was to be performed in NYC’s Shakespeare in the Park with Al Pacino. I was going to create this print & give them out for free to theater goers, but it ended up taking too long to finish & wasn’t completed in time. I printed it anyway & added it to my selection of Limitedition prints.” M A

Mercy 2010

Rainbow

Color Studies

Rainbow, 2011 “In 2011 I began creating a series of rainbows & spectrums of color by cutting pieces of various color from the consumer brand packages I had been working with & arranging them according to R-O-Y-G-B-I-V. Over the years I’ve developed several other what I call “Color-based themes” including Hearts, Flags, Flowers & Trees (or ‘Brandscapes’), Abstracts and depictions of things like fish (whales) & musical instruments (guitars) which are also on display here. This is a good example of one of my first ‘Rainbow’ collages.”  M A

Sunflowers

Brandscapes

Sunflowers, 2012 “This color based “Brandscape” collage is also made from the packages of famous consumer brand packages. You can see how I left a bunch of clues as to where the pieces may have come from. I was inspired by Warhol’s flowers which are not realistic & thought I would try to create landscapes & nature scenes in my own way using my medium of choice. FYI,  I also love the flowers of Georgia O’Keeffe, Claude Monet & Vincent Van Gogh!” M A

Art Merchandise - Main Category Image

Red Heart

Color Study

Heart (The Red Studio), 2009  “This color study was created after working with a group of elementary school students on a flag project. It was the day before Valentine’s Day in 2009 & we were creating Flags together with Red/White & Blue/White Pieces which they had pre-cut with their parents & teachers. As I was helping to assemble the pieces into American Flags I had the idea to use the Red/White pieces to make a heart which I did when I got home & this was it! I finished it after midnight which was Valentine’s Day. This was also inspired by a famous painting by Henri Matisse called The Red Studio (1911) which I have always admired & is on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.”  M A

Map of the World

Word Maps

Map of The World, 2020 “This 32” X 40” collage was created between April & June of 2020 during the first  COVID lockdown. I had created other Maps, including one of the USA which is featured in the gallery, but always wanted to do one of the whole world. I thought the global pandemic was a great excuse to do it. It features every country in the world as well as famous cities, bodies of water, & territories all arranged geographically! There are also 119 Flags of different countries ‘hidden’ within the composition, can you find any? Hint: One is Japan’s, the red dot surrounded by white on the far right side in the middle. The original is still available for sale, by the way.” M A

The 19th Amendment (2021)

History Based Works

The 19th Amendment, 2021 “After creating other collages based on U.S. history I had the idea to create collages of Amendments to the US Constitution. This involved collecting all the female characters I could find which took over a year to do & then surrounding the text of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. The first version of this idea was created in 2008,. This was the 2nd version created 13 years later which I noticed was a lot more diverse a group of female characters illustrating  what I see as the evolution of imagery on consumer brand packages.” M A

Animalism, 2007

Animalism, 2007. 32” x 40”

Animalism

Dark Star, 2007

Photo collage

Dark Star / Grateful Dead photo collage 2007 photos taken by Michael Moskowitz at Grateful Dead concert in New Haven, Connecticut Spring Tour May 1977

Grateful Dead Dark Star photos 1977 collage 2007

The Ballad of Tony the Tiger

The Ballad of Tony the Tiger / Original Collage size 20” x 32”

The Ballad of Tony the Tiger

Cityscape #4

Cityscape #4

Cityscape #4 (Starry Night) finished 121819

You Are What You crEATe 2019

You Are What You crEATe, 2019  Original Collage

Michael Albert quote art - You are what you crEATe