About Michael Whitehead

Intense Contemporary

Michael Whitehead's work is about the creation of usually large, layered abstracts, contemporary paintings in which each brush stroke challenges the previous one, where oil is pitted against acrylic to create deliberate tension, resistance and intensity. Where large blocks of color may be layered to capture or reflect light, or a moody palate is employed where the under-painting appears to be attempting to break through to provide a fleeting glimpse of a secret world beneath.

The paintings are instinctive and have a sense of urgency but their creation is through deliberate process. If paint runs across a canvas it's because the artist is happy for it to go there or has even encouraged it to do so. Every stroke, every line, is intended to leave a record of its journey. The works exhibit no fear of exposing their inner selves -- the "complexity of construction" if you like -- of how they came to be.

-Jan Sinclair

The layers of paint and other media that I may incorporate in my work are there to provide a document of memory, a visual language of experience.

-Michael Whitehead