BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1939, Michael grew up in the west of Ireland and came to London at the age of seventeen to study at Chelsea School of Art. He later studied at the Royal Academy Schools, receiving his post graduate diploma in Fine Art. His many exhibitions have included solo exhibitions at the Royal National Theatre and at the Commonwealth Institute. He received the Celebrities' Prize in the 1991 Anglia Television series 'Moving Art', presented by the late Derek Nimmo and George Melly. In September 2002 he was awarded first prize in the Japan Tourist Organisation photography competition 'Focus on Japan'. He also won the William Lee Portrait Prize (Nottingham County Council) in 1990.
Now based in Northampton, many of Michael's vibrant paintings are the result of his travels, including to India, Bhutan, Iran and South America. His figurative narrative paintings in oil and watercolour are in strong vibrant colours and depict ordinary people in exotic environments, the result of his sympathetic and humorous eye for character. He is a compulsive traveller with an acute eye and love of intense colour.
The Brownston Gallery hosted his most recent series of smaller oil paintings, inspired by the Rimbaud poem ?Les Illuminations? in our Spring 2006 exhibition.
Michael was Head of Foundation Studies, Art and Design, at Nene College in Northampton from 1985 to 1993. From 1970 to 1985 he was a Lecturer in Drawing at Northampton School of Art.
Michael's solo exhibitions have included
- Bedford Library Gallery
- 'A Traveller's Tale', Alfred East Gallery Kettering, Northamptonshire
- 'A Spell in Bhutan', Chipping Norton Theatre Gallery, Oxfordshire
- 'Foreign Parts', Royal National Theatre, London
- Commonwealth Institute, London
- 'Indian Inks', Royal National Theatre, London
His work has also been seen in group exhibitions and shows including at the Primrose Gallery, Northampton in Northampton and as part of 'People and Places' at the Gagliardi Gallery in London; 'Irish Literary Portraits' at the Kenny Gallery, Galway, and ?Academicians Choice' at the Eye Gallery in Bristol.
Michael says: ?I paint in an attempt to make sense of my life's experiences. When you return from a foreign holiday what have you got? Some souvenirs, a few photographs, a rapidly fading memory of the sensual textures of the country. It becomes very remote all too soon, and the mental images which were once so vivid, start to vanish. Even the photographs, which you rely on for proof, always fail to capture the spirit of the place. For me, painting is a way of investing ordinary experiences with meaningfulness.
"I travel with a tiny watercolour box and sketchbook in which I record details of the people I meet. I puzzle over little visual riddles and gradually combine them into a narrative, which will make sense of the event. Why was that old brown man wearing a pair of pink Y-fronts on his head? Why was that man cycling through the coconut grove with a monkey as pillion passenger? Why is it that the most sacred shrines dedicated to the gods are overrun with monkeys performing lowlife activities? Why do the poorest people in the world smile so much? Why do women who walk like princesses and wear butterfly-coloured saris work in road gangs carrying hods of hot asphalt on their heads in the boiling sun? A picture will continually pose the question, but it is up to the viewer to provide an interpretation from his own experience."
"Being a tourist highlights the incongruities which are the delight of foreign travel. It is like going to the theatre with high-powered binoculars - you are beguiled by the illusion which is presented on stage, but can also observe the actors' counterfeit emotions and inexpert makeup through the glasses. Looking behind the scenery has always appealed to me."
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