"Verge is an international platform for the most exciting and interesting in
new and emerging art. Verge exists to establish boundaries of the
extraordinary as a counter to the natural compulsion towards stagnation in
the way art is evaluated and delivered to the public. Staying true to this
necessary state for the advancement of art requires a sustained focus on the
best new ideas and practices of those marginal or newly emerging to
international art audiences. The satisfaction of this fixed requirement for
a healthy and competitive artistic culture is at the core of Verge as an
international exposition of the highest quality artistic production and the
galleries, museums and audiences who sustain it."
VERGE was co-founded with artist Edouard Steinhauer and Michael Workman in 2009. VERGE today is owned by Workman, an art critic, journalist and entrepreneur, a staff writer for Gaper’s Block, contributing writer for Flash Art and Newcity and "True Stories" columnist for ARTINFO.COM. In 2009, he co-founded the annual Verge Art Fair in Miami Beach and the popular Art Brooklyn, and the Visual Art Network, an internet audience outreach initiative that includes the VANlist email announcement service. Formerly, he was Director of Bridge, NFP, a Chicago-based 501 (c) (3) arts publishing and programming organization. Bridge, NFP published the Pushcart-prize winning bimonthly Bridge Magazine, for which he served as Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. Bridge, NFP also organized the annual Artboat exhibition during Art Chicago for two consecutive years at Navy Pier, The Nova Art Fair for another two, and launched the Bridge Art Show from 2004-2008 in Miami Beach and Chicago in 2007, in cooperation with the Merchandise Mart. Bridge, NFP also launched a multi-use facility that provided incubation space for developing arts organizations and work studios for artists. Former incubation tenants included 1R and Bucket Rider galleries, an effort that gave numerous young artists a platform to realize unconventional works and exhibitions, and provided many now-notable young artists their first exhibitions, including Sayre Gomez, Sterling Ruby, Craig Doty and Amanda Ross Ho, among others.
Workman also served as Chicago correspondent for the bi-monthly Italian art publication, Flash Art, has worked as an arts critic and commentator for Chicago’s NPR affiliate, WBEZ-FM, and pioneered a column on visual art, Eye Exam, for the Chicago alternative weekly newspaper, NewCity, where he served as Art Editor for five years. Workman has lectured widely at universities including The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and The University of Illinois at Chicago, and served as an advisor to curators of the Whitney Biennial. His journalism and critical writing has appeared in New Art Examiner, the Chicago Reader, zingmagazine, and Contemporary magazine, among others, and his projects have been written about in Artforum, The New York Times, Artnet, The Financial Times, The Huffington Post, The Times of London, The Art Newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Art In America, Time Out NY, Chicago and London, The Gawker, ARTINFO, Flavorpill, The Chicago Tribune, NYFA Current, The Frankfurter Algemeine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Village Voice, Monopol, and numerous other news media, art publications and countless blog, podcast and small press publishing outlets throughout the years. He currently resides in Chicago.
