Michael Porter. New Paintings

About

Michael Porter has created a unique voice in dealing with the very English subject matter of landscape. His paintings describe the physical boldness of the landscape combined with the delicate flora and fauna found within it, using what is usually seen as the familiar and reinterpreting it with a creative freshness allowing the viewer to see from a new perspective.

The surfaces are multi-layered: natural elements are camouflaged and concealed and are only just visible, whilst others, painted with painstaking detail, are clearly discernible. The variety of surface texture and the delicate and subtle colours reflect those of the natural world. Although nature is the catalyst, Porter's paintings challenge our perception of how we interpret the world around us.

While at first glance The Vanitas Series may seem of a renewed genre, each work is still very much anchored in traditional landscape representation, echoing 17th century Dutch Vanitas painting which allegorically depicts the fatality of life.

The subject of Porter's study is thus of monumental dimension, yet its small scale invites the viewer into the depth of its painterly details. These oil and acrylic on canvas celebrate the the dual quality of death and rebirth, with evocative symbols and the rich ambivalence