12 October – 5 November 2022
Despard Gallery is proud to present solo exhibition by established contemporary artist, Michael Vale. In his third solo exhibition with Despard Gallery, Vale presents a new body of work that continues his exploration of absurdist logic and gothic fiction, coupled with the traditions of painting.
Channelling a similar level of unbridled imagination that led the romantic artists of the 19th Century to prioritise emotion and intuition over logic and reason, Vale welcomes us into an arcane world of supposition, symbolism and the supernatural. Renowned for seamlessly blending the visual grandeur of historical painting with humour and disconcertion in equal measure, Vale’s dramatic landscapes become a theatrical backdrop to stage a population of eerie actors, taking the form of skeletons and faceless mummies.
Michael Vale was awarded a PhD from Monash University where he is now a senior lecturer in the School of Fine Art. Vale was a co-winner of the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2021, previously being awarded the Hutchins Art Prize in 2018, the Bayside Art Prize in 2017 and the ‘Best Film On Art’ at the 2006 Asolo Artfilm Festival, Italy. Vale has been hung in the prestigious Archibald prize on no less than three occasions, most recently in 2019, the same year he was selected for the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize.
Click here to request catalogue for Michael Vale.
EXHBITION IMAGES
PREVIEW VIDEO
GALLERY VIEWS
VIRTUAL VIEWING ROOM
