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MICHAEL ENGLISH
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1963-1966 STUDIED ART AT EALING SCHOOL OF ART LONDON.
STUDIED UNDER MANY OF THE LEADING BRITISH AVANT GARDE ARTISTS OF THE TIME. ATTENDED THE GROUND COURSE, A REVOLUTIONARY ART TEACHING PROGRAMME DEVISED BY ROY ASCOTT. THIS SYSTEM OF EDUCATION RELEASED A GREAT WEALTH OF TALENT THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY LAIN DORMENT.
1966 ENGLISH BECAME CAPTIVATED BY THE POP MOVEMENT, APPLYING IT’S IMAGERY ONTO RETAIL OBJECTS SUCH AS T-SHIRTS, CARRIER BAGS AND SUNGLASSES. CARNABY STREET IKONS. ARTWORKS OUT OF THE GALLERIES AND AVAILABLE TO ALL.

1967 THE ARTIST BECAME INVOLVED IN THE HIPPY MOVEMENT BECOMING THE MOST PROLIFIC BRITISH PRODUCER OF SO CALLED ‘PSYCHEDELIC POSTERS’ AND PAINTING THE SHOP FRONTS OF 'HUNG ON YOU' AND 'GRANNY TAKES A TRIP' IN CHELSEA, LONDON. MOST OF THIS WORK WAS DONE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NIGEL WAYMOUTH UNDER THE TITLE, HAPSHASH & THE COLOURED COAT. USING THE SAME NAME THEY FORMED AN EXPERIMENTAL ROCK GROUP WITH GUY STEPHENS AND RELEASED AN ALBUM ON THE LIBERTY LABEL. HAPSHASH & THE COLOURED COAT FEATURING THE HUMAN HOST AND THE HEAVY METAL KIDS.

1969 WITH THE DEMISE OF THE HIPPY MOVEMENT AND HIS DISCOVERY OF THE AIRBRUSH ENGLISH ABANDONED PSYCHEDELIC IMAGERY. HE MADE A RADICAL SHIFT IN STYLE. THOUGH THE SEEDS OF THIS NEW STYLE HAD SPORADICALLY SHOWN THEMSELVES IN THE OLD WORK, IT WAS NOT UNTIL HE HAD ENTIRELY DISENGAGED FROM THE HIPPIES DID THEY COME INTO REAL FRUITION. WITH EDWARD BOOTH-CLIBBORN AS PUBLISHER HE CREATED A SERIES OF LIMITED EDITION PRINTS ENTITLED ‘FOOD SYNAETHETICS’ AND ‘RUBBISH’. THE SUCCESS OF THESE INFLUENTIAL GROUND BREAKING WORKS LED TO FURTHUR PRINTS AND A DECISION TO MASS PRODUCE. THE RESULT WAS WORLD WIDE EXPOSURE.

1973 ENGLISH MOVED AWAY FROM THE PRINTED FORM AND BEGAN TO PAINT CANVASSES.
HE ABANDONED THE POP/HYPER-REALISM LANGUAGE OF THE PRINTS AND DEVELOPED A VERY PERSONAL FORM OF TRUE HYPER REALISM, CONCENTRATING ON THE DIALECTIC BETWEEN MAN MADE PRODUCTS AND THE NATURAL WORLD. HE WAS ATTEMPTING TO CREATE SOME SORT OF RESOLUTION TO THIS APPARANT DICHOTOMY. INEVITABLY NATURE BECAME THE DOMINANT FEATURE. THE MAN MADE OBJECTS TAKING THE ROLE OF POLLUTANT, AS IN THE SEMINAL PAINTING 'NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN'.

1975 SHOWED ANOTHER MOVE, NOT IN STYLE, BUT IN CONTENT. MAN MADE ARTIFACTS ASSUMED THE DOMINANT POSITION, COMPLETELY OVERPOWERING THE WORKS OF NATURE. THIS MOVE MANIFESTED ITSELF IN MONUMENTAL PIECES FEATURING CLOSE-UPS OF MACHINERY. THE STAGGERING, OBSESSIONAL DETAIL OF THESE WORKS HAVE NO EQUAL. THOUGH THEY ARE CERTAINLY HYPER-REALISM THEY ARE ALSO ABSTRACT. UNFORTUNATELY FEW OF THESE INSPIRED PAINTINGS CAN BE FOUND IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS. THE ARTS COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN HAVE ONE AND THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF REPRODUCTIONS. MOST ARE HIDDEN AWAY IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS IN SWITZERLAND, THE UNITED STATES, FRANCE AND THE UK. THE ARTIST HAD BECOME A VERY PRIVATE MAN PREFERING TO WORK UNDISTURBED BY THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PRESSURES OF THE CURRENT ART SCENE.
THIS ISOLATION FROM THE ART WORLD WAS FURTHUR EXACERBATED BY HIS CONTINUING LOVE OF POSTER DESIGN AND STREET ART AND THE CONSEQUENTIAL CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY. IN FACT IT HAS BEEN THE ARTIST’S WORK IN ADVERTISING AND DESIGN THAT HAS POWERED HIS FINE ART EXPLORATIONS, PROVIDING THE CASH THAT THE ART ESTABLISHMENT WOULD NOT. IT IS DIFFICULT TO COME TO TERMS WITH AN ARTIST WHO HAS THIS NEED TO CROSS AND RECROSS THE DIVIDE BETWEEN THE EXCLUSIVITY OF PURE ART AND THE COMMERCIALISM OF THE STREET.

1978 ENGLISH WAS COMMISSIONED TO CREATE THE SETS FOR THE ‘BALLET THEATRE CONTEMPORAIN’ AT SADLERS WELLS. ON THE FIRST NIGHT THE DESIGN GOT A STANDING OVATION, PROVING HIS OLD POP IMAGERY WAS AS POPULAR AS EVER. LATER IN THE SAME YEAR HE WAS OFFERED A MAJOR EXHIBITION AT THE PARCO GALLERY IN TOKYO, JAPAN.

1986 THE ARTIST HAD BECOME DISSATISFIED WITH HYPER-REALISM AND BEGAN A SEARCH FOR SOMETHING NEW. SOMETHING THAT WOULD GROW OUT OF THE OLD STYLE BUT THAT WOULD PERHAPS OFFER A SOLUTION TO AN OLD PROBLEM. THE NEED TO FIND A UNITY BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE. TO DEPICT THE TWO AS ONE.

1988 ENGLISH VISITED THE ISLAND OF PRASLIN IN THE SEYCHELLES ARCHEPALAGO. THE RAIN FORESTS OF THE ISLAND PROVIDED THE INSPIRATION FOR AN ENTIRELY NEW WAY OF PAINTING. AFTER FURTHUR VISITS TO THE ISLAND HE SUCCEEDED IN DEVELOPING AN INTENSELY PERSONAL LANGUAGE. A LANGUAGE OF LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS. USING GESTURAL BRUSH STROKES THE ARTIST WAS ABLE TO CREATE A VISIONARY CHIARISCURO THAT DRAWS THE SPECTATOR INTO A DEEP METAPHYSICAL WORLD. THE PAINTINGS APPEAR AS DOORWAYS INTO AN UNSEEN REALITY.

1995 THIS VISIONARY WORK LED TO A CONTRACT WITH THE BBC TO ACT AS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR FOR THE PROJECTED SERIALISATION OF MERVYN PEAKE’S NOVEL ‘GORMENGHAST’. THE APPLICATION OF THIS NOW PERFECTED STYLE WORKED VERY WELL.
FOR THE FIRST TIME ENGLISH WAS WORKING WITH DIGITAL IMAGING. SCANNING IN CONCEPT PAINTINGS AND USING THEM TO BUILD VIRTUAL SETS AND LANDSCAPES WITHIN WHICH THE ACTORS WOULD PERFORM. UNFORTUNATELY THE MOUNTING COSTS OF THIS COMPLEX PROCESS FORCED THE BBC TO CALL A HALT TO THE PROJECT.

1996 ENGLISH STILL KEPT IN CONTACT WITH THE COMMERCIAL WORLD. WORKING ON POSTER CAMPAIGNS FOR MANY OF THE WORLD’S LEADING COMPANIES. HE COOPERATED ON A PROJECT TO CREATE A NEW IMAGE FOR SWISSAIR AND DESIGNED A SERIES OF POSTERS FOR BRITISH AIRWAYS TO COMMUNICATE THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THEIR CONTROVERSIAL TAIL FIN ARTWORKS.

2000 SAW THE ARTIST EMBARK ON A YEAR LONG PROJECT TO CREATE A SET OF STAMPS FOR THE ROYAL MAIL FEATURING HIS OLD HYPER-REALIST STYLE.

2002 ANOTHER BIG COMMISSION TO DESIGN A SERIES OF POSTERS FOR BERTOLLI, THE ITALIAN OLIVE OIL COMPANY. MEANWHILE THE FINE ART CHANNEL REMAINED FIRMLY OPEN.
THE WORK INITIATED IN 1988 HAD DEVELOPED UNABATED. SPREADING OUT INTO MANY AREAS ENGLISH BEGAN TO INTEGRATE HIS OLD MASTERY OF HYPER-REALISM WITH THE LATER VISIONARY WORK, EXPLOITING NEW MEDIA AND DEVELOPING NEW TECHNIQUES.

2004 THE ARTIST WAS COMMISSIONED TO DESIGN TWO POSTERS FOR MCDONALDS USING HIS OLD STYLES FROM 1967 AND 1969. THERE WAS ALSO ANOTHER COMMISSION FROM THE ROYAL MAIL. THIS OLD 1960’S WORK HAD NOW BECOME HUGELY POPULAR WITH A NEW YOUNG GENERATION.


MONOGRAPH BOOKS: 3-D EYE.PAPER TIGER 1979
THE ANATOMY OF ILLUSION.PAPER TIGER 1989

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: MUSEUM OF MODERN ART NEW YORK
ARTS COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN
BRITISH COUNCIL COLLECTION
VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM