Toby Michael (Temple 15) graduated from Winchester School of Art in July 2018. He writes to share his inspiration, latest works and aspirations.
Since graduating, I have been working as an artist, completing commissions for individual clients, making a series of British portraits for Simon Claridge’s Claridge Fine Art in Winchester and working towards a larger body of self-directed work for my 2019 Solo Show in O N C A, Brighton. Having been a shortlisted contestant in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019, I am further advancing my position through entering a number of other competitions such as the BP Portrait award and the Lynn Painter-Stainers prize.
Archetypes and archetypal stories inform our experience of memory and how we perceive the world. The vivid nature of memories and their recontextualisation in relation to current circumstance develops upon the meaning of the original memory itself and thus embellishments adapt its meaning over time. We can see this happen in a similar way through archetypal stories, while the objective truth dissipates the identification with wider human condition becomes stronger. Classical academic realist techniques are the foundation of my practice and the technical narrative of the process not only feeds into the contemporary narrative I look to explore but contains its own process-based narrative that forges a connection and acknowledgment to the history of western painting.
I am open to potential collaborations and clients, and am looking for sponsorship to attend the London Atelier of Representational Art to further my development and understanding of drawing and painting. For any further information, please visit my website tobymichael.co.uk or email tobymichael96@yahoo.com
Toby Michael (Temple 15)