British artist Michael Tierney stands out for his fantastical mixed-media paintings which conceptualise the chaotic and multi-layered aspects of contemporary culture that often leave us over-stimulated and disorientated. A blend of Street Art, Pop Art and graphic design, his colourful menageries sizzle with characters, creatures and colours plucked from the artist’s imagination.
Michael Tierney’s Education and Early Career
Michael received a scholarship to study art at the University of Brighton. Only four years after he graduated, his paintings were snatched up by the Saatchi Gallery and exhibited at their ‘Spring Fever’ exhibition. In 2016, the Wall Street Journal got wind of Michael’s talent, calling him a ‘rising star’ in the industry. Since, his mixed-media mash-ups have continued to humour and delight observers across the globe, featuring in The Guardian newspaper and on the Royal Academy and Dazed websites. His pre-Brexit Pro-EU posters, in particular, garnered media attention.
Style and Approach
Michael’s creations are a maelstrom of ideas and simulacra expressed through bright colours which pop from the canvas, bold graphic lines and juxtaposed shapes. His complex compositions are inspired by places the artist has visited as well as his impressions of everyday life but reflected through distorted, funhouse mirrors. Fun and playful pieces such as acrylic and spray paint Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! create tensions between real life, the alien and the imaginary. Michael’s style epitomises the weird and wonderful of fantasy art, and the overwhelming stimuli modernity confronts us with.
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