b. 1967, Glasgow, Scotland

Drawing on traditions of Photorealism – a style he likes best for its ‘alienating qualities’ – Pop Art, Soviet propaganda, and early-twentieth-century advertising as formal reference points, Alan Michael creates highly detailed paintings that poke fun at the transience and superfluity of consumer behaviour. With his ambiguous grey-scale colour palette, Michael juxtaposes images from so-called high and low cultures to query notions of class, style, and taste. Often, the artist makes reference materials his muse; in so doing, Michael seeks to shift our focus from the materials themselves to the processes through which we might use such resources to generate ideas, and create objects or artworks.

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