Mark Michael is a British artist who combines evocative imagery, symbols and hand written text to create psychological portraits that mirror the invisible realm behind our facades.Through the use of masked figures, symbols, ciphers, totems and handwritten messages, he invites the viewer to an inner world that reveals itself through interpretation. His cryptic puzzles play themselves out on abstract hinterlands and sparse theatrical stages. Major themes include personal revelation, the secret world of taboo desires. confessions, isolation, re-invention and how the passing of time changes our relationship with others and ourselves. The artists views his canvasses as emotional mirrors that offer a modicum of catharsis and release. He has participated in group and solo shows in the UK and Europe.
EXHIBITION HISTORY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Say What You See -The Sherfield Gallery - Sherfield- on- Loddon, Hampshire
(22nd April to 10th June)
2015 You Think You Know Me - Winchester - Jewry Street Gallery, Winchester
(22nd July to 3rd September)
2014 Work exhibited on public display at The Warsash Maritime Academy - Hampshire (October 2014 to October 2015)
2014 Work exhibited on public display at St Johns Hospital Winchester
(September 2014 to March 2015)
2014 Machiavellian Boy Scouts and the Haphazard Art of Misdirection – Jewry Street Gallery, Winchester (13th July to 2nd September)
2013 We Run Like Stray Dogs In The Rain - 10 Days Biennial Creative Collisions, Winchester - Jewry Street Gallery, Winchester (25th October to 3rd November
2013 Darn This Predisposition - The Earl’s Wall, Winchester
(10th September to 30th September)
2013 We Used To Sleep Together - Jewry Street Gallery, Winchester
(22nd July to 3rd September)
2013 The Society Of Fickle Fingers - The Link Gallery, University of Winchester
(22nd April to 3rd June)
2013 I Want You Baby - Aura, Mayfair, London (March)
2013 The Society Of Fickle Fingers - The Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey
(15th to 31st January)
2012 How Should I Feel - Jewry St Gallery, Winchester
(4th May to 31st May)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 London Biennale - Chelsea Old Town Hall London
(26th to the 30th of July)
2023 Fringe Arts Bath 2023 - Bath
(26th May to 11th June)
2023 The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art Open Exhibition 2023 - Wales
(7th January to 1st April 2023)
2023 Tŷ Pawb Open Art Competition 2022 - Wales
(15th October 2022 to 7th January 2023)
A collection of paintings displayed at the Winchester Film Festival
(12th November 2022)
2022 Southampton City Art gallery Open Exhibition 2022
(2nd July to 10 September 2022)
2017 The Fringe Arts Bath Festival, Bath
(16th May to 10th June)
2017 London Biennale - Chelsea Old Town Hall
(29th March to 2nd April)
2016 Finalist Exhibition Summer Art Prize – Lacey Contemporary Galley, London
(3rd August to 20th August)
2015 Battersea Affordable Art fair, London
2015 Secret Art Prize Exhibition – The Curious Duke Gallery, London
(1st October to 18th October)
2015 Chianciano Biennale 2015 – Chianciano Museum of Art, Tuscany, Italy
(5th September to 13th September) Winner of the Leonardo Award for Figurative Art
2015 Finalist Exhibition Summer Art Prize – Lacey Contemporary Galley, London
(13th August to 24th August)
2015 Winner of The Sherfield Gallery Open Exhibition 2015 - Sherfield- on-Loddon, Hampshire (January / February)
2014 9 out of 10 Humans Believe. Part of Portraits 14, Family Familiar- a collection of paintings by members of The Royal Society of Portrait Painters – City Space, Winchester (22nd March to 20th April) and at Jewry Street Gallery, Winchester ( 22nd March to 11th May)
2014 Sherfield Gallery Open Exhibition 2014 - Sherfield-on-Loddon, Hampshire (January / February)
2013 7 Artists - The Strand Gallery, London (March)
2012 Our Very Best - Jewry St Gallery, Winchester
(December 1st to December 28th)
