Michael Southern

Michael Southern is a Northwest painter and printmaker. Much of his work is about finding our place within the natural world. He is drawn to landscape and the human experience of place. More recently he has introduced the hitherto unseen figure to the landscape, giving them physical presence. Renaissance and Baroque allegory painting has informed his approach, and there is a very definite neoclassical feel about his work.

“The old mythological and religious paintings of the Renaissance and Baroque are a huge inspiration for my latest figurative work. Much of the imagery made during this historical era in the Western world possesses an optimism about humanity that feels lost in the current day. In addition to the usual suspects of Western mythology and religion, I am referencing the mythology and storytelling of indigenous cultures. So many of these current and past civilizations have the earth and nature itself as the centerpiece of human creation and spiritual rebirth. These new allegorical images are not without an agenda. They are offering a way forward and through our current stasis. The characters depicted in this body of work are stage actors in a new mythology.”

As the paintings have evolved the figures have become more prominent within their environment and the narrative traveling a more specific path. He explores the primacy of feminine power, spiritual and corporal identity and ritual adornment. He is aware of issues surrounding the male gaze in contemporary art. His standpoint is to bear witness rather than placing his female protagonists into the role of artist’s muse. The most recent works have been distilled down to a single dominant figure as the largest part of the composition.

The Eel Hunter

$2,400.00

Painting by Michael Southern. Oil on panel, 36 x 22 inches, 2017

Shop

Take What You Can Carry II

$2,600.00

Painting by Michael Southern. Oil on panel, 41 x 23 inches, 2017.

Shop

Nest

$2,900.00

The Eel Hunter

Take What You Can Carry II

Nest

Landscape Study III

Figures in Landscape I

Anomoly IV

Anomaly II

Rhino

Weevil Twins

Hummingbird I

False Modesty

Mantis

Michael Southern