WHEN : 21st May – 8th June
WHERE : Jan Murphy Gallery
Honing his studio skills through formal studies in painting and design, Muir has departed from traditional plein-air painting to describe more ambiguous visual puzzles derived from the urban landscape. In our digitally redolent culture, his exclusive use of the palette knife acts as a kind of universal leveller, flattening and de-pixilating his high-key canvases.
A sense of everyday fantasy is modulated by Muir’s careful balance of the palette, his sunny, animated landscapes tensioned by a late storm warning.
Born in Scotland, Muir’s own childhood began in South East Asia before settling in Sydney, a time punctuated by frequent travel to his mother’s native Philippines. The cultural milieu of early experience cannot be under-estimated, but equally important is Muir’s attention to the immediate: “Drawing with my boys gives me a chance to reflect on my own childhood, and moving the paint around becomes a metaphor, as they progress from scribble to image, for my own artistic expansion.”
A finalist in a number of award exhibitions over the past decade including The Metro 5, Sulman and Fleurieu Art Prize, Michael Muir’s sense of pleasure in paint invites a fresh-eyed response.
Image: The Little Lights (2013)
Text: Jan Murphy Gallery (2013)
