About – Mike Packer

Artist Statement

There is never enough time to do it all. I still try.

Biography

Born in Houston, Texas in 1976, Mike Packer began his journey into the world of visual art with an ink pen, at Astroworld amusement park. At just 15 years old, he was hired as a caricature artist in 1991—a seemingly simple job that would become a foundational chapter in a decades-long artistic evolution. Over the years, they sketched thousands of faces, learning not just the architecture of human features, but the personalities and unspoken stories behind each pair of eyes. It was here, amidst laughter and hurried crowds, that Mike’s lifelong love for people—and painting them—took root. Today, Mike Packer is known for their expressive portraiture and surreal compositions, executed primarily in oil using the alla prima technique. Working from life whenever possible, they approach the canvas with immediacy and emotional clarity, capturing fleeting expressions and psychological nuance in a single sitting. Each brushstroke is a meditation on presence, perception, and human connection. What motivates this artist is not merely the technical challenge of rendering a likeness, but the deeper psychology of portraiture: how identity is communicated visually, how viewers project meaning onto a face, and how the act of being seen—truly seen—can be transformative. For them, painting is both an intellectual inquiry and an emotional exchange. There is also, undeniably, a visceral satisfaction in the process itself. Painting offers an instant, tactile gratification; the richness of oil paint, the wet-in-wet blending, and the surprise that unfolds in the moment. But perhaps most rewarding is the reaction of their subjects—often strangers—when they encounter themselves as seen through the artist’s eyes. It is in these moments of recognition and resonance that the artist finds affirmation and inspiration. Mike Packer continues to paint in their Rosenberg studio and on location, pursuing the ever-renewing challenge of representing the inner world through the surface of the face.