Michael Pauker completed his Bachelor of the Fine Arts degree from SUNY College at Purchase in New York in 1988 and was quickly awarded the City of Oakland Artist Fellowship in Painting. The following year Pauker earned his Master of the Fine Arts degree at Mills College in Oakland before embarking on his artistic career. Over the years since then, Pauker has shown his work in dozens of group and solo exhibitions across the United States and in Japan and Costa Rica.