Michael Whitehead is one of the lucky ones. A person who, even as a child in a country school in northern Victoria, knew what he wanted to do in life. He was sure about his need to paint and he has been on this journey of discovery, pushing his creativity, for more than 30 years.
Michael attended the Bendigo Institute of Technology and graduated with a Diploma of Art and Design majoring in Graphic Design in the mid seventies. He began his first employment as a graphic artist in a South Melbourne design studio run by a Swiss designer. It was a great experience for a twenty year old fresh from college to work in a team that was winning design awards not only in Australia but also in the US and Europe.
Trips to the USA and Mexico beginning in the late seventies and continuing into the nineties, as well as time in South East Asia, continually exposed Michael to art in all forms and added to his desire to explore his own creativity. During this time he completed several freelance graphic design works and drawing projects for corporate and private clients. Michael later worked for the Victorian education department teaching art and photography in secondary colleges. In the early nineties he opened a screen-printing studio, which catered to both local and overseas clients. Michael and his family relocated to Queensland’s
Sunshine Coast in 1995.
A trip to Eastern Europe through a freezing winter in 2003 provided the spark that led Michael to explore broader boundaries in his work. Standing inside a 900 year old walled city that has transformed itself into a vibrant capital provided a huge dose of enthusiasm and renewed his creative energy.
Today, Michael works from his studio in Noosa’s beautiful hinterland, and has moved to the creation of large layered abstracts. Contemporary works in which each brush stroke challenges the previous one and oil is pitted against acrylic to create deliberate tension, resistance, and intensity. He uses large blocks of colour layered to capture or reflect light or a moody palate where the under-painting appears to be attempting to break through to provide a fleeting glimpse of a secret world beneath.
“A painting has to be instinctive and have a sense of urgency but yet remain precise”, says Michael. “If paint runs across a canvas it’s because I’m happy for it to go there or I have encouraged it to do so. Every stroke, every line, is intended to leave a record of its journey. I strive to have my works exhibit no fear of exposing their inner selves -- the ‘complexity of construction’ if you like -- of how they came to be”.
Michael is a featured artist in galleries across Australia’s major cities and New York and his work features in private and corporate collections around the world. Collectors of his work have joined Michael’s creative journey and the more they experience his art, the more it seems to reveal itself to them.
Exhibitions:
2007 TVH Galleries, Seaforth, New South Wales
2006 Art Sydney ’06 Fox Studios, Sydney Australia
Art Melbourne, Melbourne Australia
Thierry B. Contemporary, Group Show, Melbourne Australia
2005 Art Gallery Collections, Gold Coast – Group Show May 2005
Fox Studios, Sydney Australia
Melbourne Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne Australia
2004 Fox Studios, Sydney Australia
Melbourne Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne Australia
