Born on Truk Island in Micronesia in 1976, McKean is a recipient of numerous awards, having been granted fellowships and residencies at The Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Central Michigan University as the Stephen L. Barstow Fellow, The Archie Bray Foundation and International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York City.  He has recently been awarded the Nancy Graves Foundation Award, an Artadia Award, the Thayer Fellowship in the Arts and VMFA Foundation Fellowship Award.

Michael's work has been shown extensively nationally and internationally including recent solo exhibitions at Grand Arts in Kansas City, DiverseWorks in Houston, Texas, The Bemis Center in Omaha, Nebraska, SUNDAY in New York City, Project Gentili in Italy and Germany, as well as Inman Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.  McKean is currently an Assistant Professor in the Sculpture and Extended Media Department at Virginia Commonwealth University.  

McKean is represented by Horton Gallery in New York City, Inman Gallery in Houston, Texas and Gentili Apri, Berlin, Germany.