Light My Life

Antony Micallef (born 1975 in Swindon), English contemporary artist and painter. Graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Plymouth, some of Micallef’s work illustrates many contemporary cultural aspects and connects them with the human experience. His use of neutral colors and depictions of the human form in a Bacon like manner in his paintings delve beyond pop culture and bring to the surface many of the things that operate underneath the cultural construct. His mark making reflects the teachings of his tutor John Virtue who in turn was taught by Frank Auerbach. The London expressionist school of painting had clearly been passed on. His extensive use of popular culture icons and corporate logos depicted along with the human form bring a very special style to his paintings. A visit to Japan in 1999 marked the beginning of his contemporary style and fascination with cultural icons and motifs and their relation to society and the individual. He was the winner of the second prize of the BP/Amoco Portrait award 2000 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Anthony Micallef moved away from strict portraiture preferring to combine his exquisite draughtsmanship with a dark and passionate exploration of colour and contemporary expressionism as a means of dissecting what he sees as the frivolities of pop culture. He says; “The trouble with pop imagery is that it doesn’t really go deeper than the surface, you have to drag it down and challenge it to make it interesting. When you put two contrasting images together it causes friction and that is the bit I’m interested in.” In the present work, the dark, Bacon-esque smears to the face conjure unlooked for associations when combined with the delicately alluring roses, the juxtaposition revealing at once the saccharine seduction of colourful pop imagery and consumerism alongside its dark and troubling underbelly. This complexity and brutal beauty explain why Anthony Micallef has become one of the most promising young artists working in Britain today.

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21st century love, detail | oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas | 140cm x 140 cm

I like to draw | oil on canvas | 115cm x 140cm

i like to draw, detail

appearance is everything | oil on canvas | 140cm x 183cm

judgement day | oil on canvas | 184cm x 164cm

god I want to be bad | oil on canvas | 100cm x 140cm

mythic weapon triptych: improvised minotaur | oil on canvas | 140cm x 220cm

study of a prayer | oil on canvas | 31cm x 47cm

collateral damage | oil on canvas | 140cm x 183cm

donuts, girl and a dumb vagrant | oil on canvas | 80cm x 100cm

NYC traffic lights, LAPD cop car, winged minotaur and a hooker | oil on canvas | 100cm x 140cm

bomber girl | oil and acrylic on canvas | 80cm x 100cm

bomber girl, detail

girl | oil on canvas | 80cm x 100cm