Affirmation

Michael Whitehead Biography

Michael Whitehead began working as a graphic artist in a prominent Melbourne design studio in the mid-seventies. Along the way, he taught in Victorian Secondary Colleges and eventually moved into owning and operating a screen printing studio. For many years, Whitehead has been painting full-time with and has work represented in several Australian and overseas galleries including Wentworth Galleries in Sydney. “My work involves the creation of usually large layered, painterly, abstract creations . I like each brush stroke to challenge the previous one, the creation of deliberate tension, resistance and intensity are important to me. I might lay down large blocks of colour to capture or reflect light. At other times, I employ a more subdued palette, so that the under-painting might appear to break through and provide a glimpse of a secret world beneath. I believe a painting has to be instinctive and have a sense of urgency while still holding onto precise execution. If the paint runs across a canvas it’s because I’m happy for it to go there or I may have even encouraged it to do so. Every stroke, every line, is intended to leave a record of its journey. I want the works to exhibit no fear of exposing their inner selves -the ‘complexity of construction’ if you like, – of how they came to be.”