Michael E. Hockenbury grew up the only child of a working-class family in Northeastern Pennsylvania. After graduating from college in 1998, he brought his childhood appetite for wonder and adventure to the now internationally renowned Waichulis atelier, also in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where he was immersed in the classical methods of realism - both ancient Greek and Rome and European Renaissance.

He spent years mastering fundamentals and principles of form, drawing and design. Through dedication, experience, and his singular personality and perspective, Michael E. Hockenbury has not only found his voice, but has contributed to the contemporary American Renaissance of Realism with his noticeable, unique use of color, composition, and message--toys, emphera, fruit/vegetables, sarcasm, nature's little quirks, oddities and history. 

Broken, neglected pieces of the past are re-casted for new roles creating a new life of their own. He takes his paintings beyond the surface in order to radiate the inner beauty of his compositions.