Discover more about the Visual Passion Duo at their website.

Artists Mikel Frank and Gerard Amsellem met in 2010 at the grand opening of GAS Gallery and Studio in Maplewood, NJ, and decided to collaborate together soon after.  They established a deep bond as a result of philosophical discussions about death, specifically the passing of loved ones. Gerard had lost his brother to cancer and Mikel had lost his father to the same horrible disease.

During the course of their collaboration, they have created many works, notable among which is “The Passing.” This painting was their first large scale public “performance” painting, measuring 15 feet wide by 7.5 feet high. It was created in one day at GAS Gallery and Studio on April 23, 2011.

The Visual Passion Duo came about after Gerard and Mikel created a multi-media, interactive art extravaganza in July 2012 at 1978 Maplewood Arts Center called Visual Passion: On Love. In 2013 the Duo was invited to exhibit at The Herb & Milly Iris Gallery at South Orange Performing Arts Center, South Orange, NJ. That same year Mikel and Gerard did a live painting demonstration in conjunction with the South Orange/Maplewood Artists Studio Tour at The Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ. In 2014-15 they were invited to exhibit and paint live at MICA: Then and Now, a two-part exhibition, which made its debut at the Ethan Cohen Gallery in Chelsea and simultaneously at The KuBe in Beacon, NY. In 2015 Gerard and Mikel exhibited and performed with the ETHEL Quartet at The Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville, NJ in conjunction with MICA: Then and Now, part 2. That same year The Visual Passion Duo was asked to be the featured artists at Maplewood Memorial Library for the Ideas Festival. In 2016 they were invited back to exhibit once again in Maplewood Memorial Library's Art Gallery, and that same year they were asked to do a live performance piece at Maplewood's Gallery 1978 in conjunction with Off the Shelf: A Tribute to June Cater.