MICHAEL D. KLEMM
ABOUT ME

I started to draw when I was four years old and my love for the arts has been a constant throughout my life. I have a BA degree in graphic design and fine arts from Buffalo State College (class of 1980) and have worked in the graphic design field for almost 30 years.

From 1995-1998, I was the editor and art director for the former free entertainment newspaper, Metro Weekend. I designed its covers and was responsible for all of the page layout. I also coordinated the editorial content and worked closely with our four freelance writers. The remaining editorial copy was written by me. I was proud to be able to work with both music critic Jeff Miers and movie critic Michael Calleri during my time at the newspaper. I then served as art director and art department manager for Automart Magazine from 1998-2008, where I completely revamped their art department. Also, for a brief time in 1998, I was the art director and theatre reviewer for the short-lived free entertainment paper, Things To Do Places To Go People To See.

I am currently a freelance graphic artist and web designer. My clients include Outcast Films in New York City and The New Phoenix Theatre on the Park. I have been designing the posters, playbills and season brochures for The New Phoenix Theatre since 1998 and I also recently re-designed their website, Newphoenixtheatre.com. I have also designed brochures for Artpark Children's Camp and for The Irish Classical Theatre (Bloomsday 2008). I am skilled on both the Macintosh and PC platforms in Quark XPress, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat and Dreamweaver. 

I have also written the video column for Buffalo's free monthly gay newspaper, Outcome, since its first issue in 1998 and I also write video reviews for Toronto, Canada's abOUT Magazine. These reviews, and many other web-only essays are collected on my website, Cinemaqueer.com, which contains over 200 titles. I currently update and maintain the site, which is my own design. 

When I have a free moment away from the computer, I still enjoy drawing and painting. My favorite subject is the human figure and my favorite style of art is Impressionism. My drawings are usually completed in one session to maintain their spontaneity. My preferred medium is sanguine and brown conte crayons with accents added using earth tone pastels. Delighting in the act of creation itself, I often employ the triptych when drawing in order to treat the same subject with different degrees of sketchiness.

I don't paint as much as I used to anymore but, when I do, I prefer acrylic to oils when painting on canvas, and have also been known to dabble in mixed media using pen & ink, watercolor, colored pencils and markers when striving for more realism.

I am a lifelong Buffalo resident and live with my longtime partner of 22 years, Andy Lippa.