Mark Michael's paintings are satirical, striking and sometimes a bit saucy. He says he likes the odd and unsettling, the banal and acute, the brash and savage. A bit light marmite, you will either love them or screw your face up and wince a bit.
A quote from Mark's artist’s statement caught my eye. It says:
“I draw inspiration from the darkness along with the well-lit areas of life”.
Armed with this information I strolled around his newly opened exhibition at the Lewis Elton Gallery to see whether this is true.
Mark works mostly in acrylic on canvas - bold block colours, strong lines and a hearty scattering of type make up the majority of his work. He feels that the introduction of type and the repetition of familiar phrases helps people relate to some of the work.
It certainly made me linger longer over a painting of a youth telling his mum “I’m going out now”, and her repeated retort “But you haven’t had your tea yet” struck a cord with me. There is something slightly sad about their communication and the simple silhouettes of the two figures combined with the random selection of copy works well.
On another wall, two scrawny chickens lean in towards one another, apparently having a row. The image is striking - the birds are set against a bold green background - and the random ramblings of each bird effectively adds to the image. There’s a story in there somewhere and it’s worth taking the time to work it out. Much of Mark’s work is graphic and clearly considered - I don’t get the impressive that he’s just thrown it all together.
Mark explained to me where his strong sense of order comes from:
“I studied sculpture at Winchester Art College,” he says, “and those solid, structural elements I learned on the course have been very useful in my painting. But I felt a bit restricted by sculpture. I love the freedom of paint and the wonder of words, combining the two has been a recent development for me and I am loving exploring it further. The current popularity of social media also opens doors in my mind about the use of words and text.”
Mark’s work is divided into 4 different categories, one of which is Satirical and another called Taboo. Here we see work that some might call ‘warts and all’ except that the warts are barely visible - but everything else is. His linear view of the female nude, viewed from the knees upwards, is spectacularly accurate in a wonderfully graphic style. I’m not how or why it could be offensive but Mark says he’s created his Taboo category because some people get easily offended:
“The images in my paintings and prints are stark and brief. I am drawn to the odd and unsettling; the banal and acute; the brash and savage. Creatures both human and animal fascinate me and play a large part in my work.”
I found the whole collection absorbing and refreshingly different and yes there is a mix of darkness and light. Not surprisingly The Art Investor recommends Mark Michael as ‘one of Britain’s best young artists’. Catch him at the Lewis Elton gallery before the end of this month.
Mark Michael’s The Society of Fickle Fingers will be at the Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey campus, until January 31. Website: www.markmichael.com
He will also be exhibiting at the Aura Gallery, Mayfair in a one day show on March 26.
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