2020 - Art Matters - Huntington Library Art Museum and Botanical Gardens - Pasadena,Ca

2020 - 90th Annual California Landscape Exhibition - Santa Cruz,Ca

2019 - Pacific Art League - Central Gallery-  Palo Alto,Ca - SOLO SHOW

2019 - OAKLAND A PAINTER'S JOURNEY - Piedmont Center for the Arts - Piedmont, Ca - SOLO SHOW

2019 - California Open National Juried Exhibition - TAG Gallery - Los Angeles ,Ca

2018 - Escape to the City - Urban Landscapes by Michael Manente - Perry and Carlson Gallery - Mt. Vernon, WA - solo show

2018 - Fresh Works VIII - Harrington Gallery - Pleasanton, CA

2018 - Peninsula Art League 15th Annual Juried Show - Gig Harbor, WA - GALLERY ROW AWARD WINNER

2017 - People of Oakland - Large Format Portraiture by Michael Manente - Harrington Gallery - Pleasanton, CA - solo show

2017 - Ninth Annual Figure Drawing and Painting Exhibition - Lore Degenstein Gallery @ Susquehanna University - Selinsgrove, PA

2017 - Fresh Works VII - Harrington Gallery - Pleasanton, CA

2017 - Bring Beauty Back - Cecil Byrne Gallery - Charleston, SC - MERIT AWARD WINNER

2016 - Eighth Annual Figure Drawing and Painting Exhibition - Lore Degenstein Gallery @ Susquehanna University - Selinsgrove, PA - FIFTH PLACE AWARD

2016 - Architecture at Art Works Downtown Gallery - Art Works Downtown Gallery - San Rafael, CA

2016 - California Open National Juried Exhibition - TAG Gallery - Santa Monica, CA

2015 - National Open Exhibition - Randy Higbee Gallery - Costa Mesa, CA

2015 - “Face It” National Juried Exhibition - On Site Brooklyn Gallery - Brooklyn, N.Y.

2014 - Summer National Juried Exhibition - Marin MOCA - Novato, CA

2013 - 2012 - 2011 - Figures and Faces” National Juried Exhibitions - Palo Alto, CA - Regular contributor

2013 - 2012 - 2011 - Annual Statewide California Landscape Artists Exhibitions - Santa Cruz, CA - Regular contributor

2012 - Summer National Juried Exhibition - Marin MOCA - Novato, CA

2012 - “Urban Forests” National Juried Exhibition - Norton Gallery - Palo Alto, CA

2011 - “Scapes”-National Juried Exhibition - Pacific Art League Gallery - Palo Alto, CA

1972 - Watercolors by Michael Manente - Alden Library - Athens, OH - solo show

All my work relates directly to light and color, whether it be the gritty urban landscapes or portraits of street people and loved ones. I seek at all times the economy of line and the efficiency of color in my pursuit of the impact of light on all surfaces. The scrubbed faces, the well worn sun beaten visages, the brick and mortar facades of ancient buildings whose landlords have long since stopped caring, all of them dance and sing to me with light and color.

Mr. Manente was raised in Cleveland Ohio and earned his BFA at Ohio University. He remained in Cleveland for several years after graduation,teaching art in the Cleveland Public School System while working on his MA at Kent State University and exhibiting locally in group shows at the prestigious Cleveland Museum of Art and the Butler Institute in Youngstown Ohio.

He and his wife Cindy moved west to the Bay Area in 1978 and have remained in Oakland California since then to raise a family and pursue their respective careers. Cindy as a  school teacher and administrator and Michael as a Pictorial Artist in the outdoor advertising business.

Having painted backdrop scenery in a number of productions in college Mike found he had a natural affinity for working in large formats like the ones used on the painted billboards and walls commonly seen on the streets and highways of the Bay Area. From sports stars like Reggie Jackson or super models like Christie Brinkley and even the now infamous " Marlboro" man, Mike painted them all ! His work from this period, a period that is all but lost today,was twice featured in the San Francisco Chronicle in it's Datebook section in June 1987 and the Sunday Focus magazine in May of 1996.

Being a highly ( no pun intended ) successful pictorial artist was what Mike did for a living to help support his growing family but through it all he kept up with his own art,staying with small plein air pastels and watercolors throughout the eighties. He began his own sign painting business in 1991 and by the late nineties was able to devote more and more time pursuing his art and personal vision. It was also at this time that Michael became a member of the American Society of Portrait Artists in New York City and a certified instructor of the Portrait Institute's Portrait Clubs of America also in New York.

Mr. Manente has worked in a couple of different studios over the years, both his old West Oakland studio and current one in Emeryville have been located in gritty light industrial neighborhoods. Having grown up in an old " Rust Belt " city like Cleveland Mike related naturally to the people and places he saw every day. The work presented here is a testament to his continuing fascination and love of  painting what he sees.