Antony Micallef
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Despite winning second prize in the BP portrait award Antony has always turned down portrait commissions insisting not only that he's a figurative painter, but that he could never see himself "inflicting brutal emotions on somebody I didn't know."
At once colourfully beautiful and deeply troubling, Anthony's work examines our dichotomous relationship with consumerism, examining how we can maintain to despise multi-national brands yet still allow ourselves to be seduced by them. "The trouble with pop imagery is that it doesn't really go deeper than the surface" he says. "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. Play a Britney Spears track and then follow it with a Nine Inch Nails tune - Britney no longer sounds the same, the union of two opposites make an intriguing and strange chemistry."
Described as 'Caravaggio meets Manga' and 'Bacon in Disneyland' this strong cocktail has already seen Anthony become enormously popular with collectors. His last solo show in the US 'Impure Idols' was located in an old bank in the heart of Hollywood. Over 50 paintings sold in under 2 hours to buyers who included Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Christina Aguilera and Damien Hirst.
Micallef has recently been invited by the Royal Academy to take part in a group show showcasing new contemporaries. Huge sculptures from the L.A exhibition made from bronze and nickel plated will be displayed in the forecourt to the Academy and new paintings will be displayed inside. The exhibition will last two months from November 2008.
Antony Micallef's page
http://www.antonymicallef.com/
