Mike Absalom Artist's Statement, CV and Recent Exhibitions

Mike Absalom Artist's Statement. February 2010
In front of the canvas I stand. I move my arms. I flex my fingers. I stare.
Time, that terrible and incomprehensible enigma, fades to irrelevance and
leaks away slowly, vanishing under the studio door. Paint flows and moves, the clouds of charcoal rise, fall, coalesce. The void is before me. Darkness covers the
face of the earth. Out of that darkness figures emerge, blinking, arranging themselves
randomly here and there on the picture plane at first without intent or passion, composing themselves like anonymous crowds moving through the Metro. They appear in the paint from elsewhere and jostle for meaning. If there were a Me I would say they come from beyond Me. I have not invited them. They introduce themselves, borrowing my name with an abrupt lack of etiquette, and having taken up their stations on the canvas they invite me to recognise them. They invite you too, viewer.
© Mike Absalom 1 February 2010.

Mike Absalom CV 2010
Mike Absalom is an Irish painter and printmaker. He was born in England and educated and brought up both there and in Canada and Sweden. His family roots are in Wales and County Clare. He has lived and worked in many parts of the world including Greece, France, Spain, Germany, Iran and Paraguay. He now lives in County Mayo where he has his studio and print workshop.
During the past six years his paintings, linocuts and dry point etchings have been exhibited widely in Wales, England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and China. Mike is an accomplished and disturbing figurative painter, but is best known for his haunting Mayo landscapes and his challenging architectural studies of streets and villages in Yorkshire, South Wales and the West of Ireland. His work has been purchased by public bodies as varied as Westport Town Council and Ireland's Office of Public Works.
In his partly abstracted acrylic landscapes and his off balance treatment of perspective in townscape and architecture movement and change are central themes as they have been in his own eclectic life. His human subjects, mythic or stereotypical, are constantly in motion. If they appear still then their environment often moves around them. In these paintings buildings can come alive while people are often little more than blocks and stones and senseless things. He calls it Mayo Expressionism.

Mike Absalom: Selected Recent Exhibitions
2009
Steps that Lead Nowhere (in the Company of Cows).
Strabane, Northern Ireland, The Alley Arts Centre, May 2009
The Peninsula – A Very Other View.
Belmullet, Mayo, Ireland, Áras Inis Gluaire, June 2009
Coffee Spooning.
Duncannon Fort, Wexford, Ireland, The Cockleshell Arts Centre July 2009
Wine, Women, Song and the Pursuit of God (A Bunratty Fable).
Waterford, Ireland, Garter Lane Theatre Gallery, October 2009,
2008
Steps that Lead Nowhere (in the Company of Cows).
Dean Crowe Theatre Athlone, Ireland, March 2008.
A Hard Place to Be (The Spaces between the Stones).
Newtownards, Northern Ireland, UK, Ards Arts Centre, March 2008.
The Peninsula (Black Sod and the Mullet Peninsula).
View Two Gallery Liverpool, UK May/June 2008.
A View of the Peninsula.
Belmullet, Ireland, Féile Iorras, June/July 2008.
Liverpool Irish Identity: A Painted View.
Liverpool, Everyman Theatre, UK October/December 2008.
Me Dream’s Out: a Liverpool Irish Mirage.
Liverpool, View Two Gallery, UK November 2008
(Both shows in conjunction with Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008, and sponsored by the Liverpool Irish Festival and the Liverpool Independents Biennial)
2007
Cead in China : Shanghai. Touring print exhibition sponsored by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. (All year)
Cutting the Surface: Woodbine and Black Plastic.
Wrexham, Wales, UK, Arts Centre, January 2007.
Stones That Remember Me.
Antrim, NI, Clotworthy Arts Centre March 2007.
Stones That Remember Me.
Lisburn, Northern Ireland, UK, Island Arts Centre June 2007.
A Passport to Vagrancy.
Dublin, Dame Street Gallery, Ireland, April 2007.
Recent Irish Paintings.
Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone.
My Irish Eyes on Liverpool Again.
Liverpool, View Two Gallery, UK., October 2007
A Hard Place to Be (The Spaces between the Stones).
Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland, Arts Centre, October 2007
Country Life Charlestown, County Mayo, Ireland, Arts Centre, November 2007

Awards/Scholarships
Abbot Exhibition to St Catherine's College, Oxford. Canada Council Scholarships (2) to pursue studies in Asunción, Paraguay. Government of British Columbia (Canada) Artist in Residence Grants (13). CCTE Grant to lecture in Calgary (Alberta). Artist in Residence at Heinrich Böll Cottage, Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland.

Dimensions and Titles of the 25 Paintings in this Portfolio
(English and Polish)

Załącznik 1

Wykaz obrazów Mike'a Absalom'a przygotowanych na wystawę w Poznaniu na 2010 rok.

1. The Handshake
Uścisk dłoni
Akryl na płótnie 76 x 61 cm
Mike Absalom 2010

2. Witches
Czarownice
Akryl na płótnie 110 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


3. Woman with Stick Walking in Snow, Poznań
Kobieta spacerującą w śniegu, Poznań
Akryl na płótnie 76 x 61 cm
Mike Absalom 2010

4. Ice Sculpture Melting, Stary Rynek, Poznań
Topniejące rzeźby lodowe, Stary Rynek, Poznań
Akryl na płótnie 90 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


5. Tram 108, Poznań
Tramwaj Nr 108, Poznań
Akryl na płótnie 76 x 61 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


6. Ratusz, Poznań - a Study in History
Ratusz, Poznań - studium historyczne
Akryl na płótnie 110 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010

7. The Legend of King Popiel Told
Legenda o Królu Popielu
Akryl na płótnie 80 x 80
Mike Absalom 2010

8. The Ancestor (A Visit to the National Museum, Poznań)
Przodek (Wizyta w Muzeum Narodowym w Poznaniu)
Akryl na płótnie 80 x80 cm
Mike Absalom 2010

9. Figures in the Snow, Poznań
Postaci w śniegu, Poznań
Akryl na płótnie 61 x 76 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


10. The Ruins of the City
Ruiny Miasta
Akryl na płótnie 90 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010

11. Figures in a Square (Stary Rynek at Midnight)
Postaci na placu (Stary Rynek o północy)
Akryl na płótnie 90 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010

12. Women Bathing
Kobiety w kąpieli
Akryl na płótnie 110 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


13. The Taugenichts tells the Popiel Story
Taugenichts opowiada historię Popiela
Akryl na płótnie 90 x 110 cm
Mike Absalom 2010

14. Figures Crossing an Icy Street, Poznan
Postaci przechodzące przez pokrytą lodem ulicę, Poznań
Akryl na płótnie 90 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


15. Sweeper and Coffee Drinker, Stary Browar
Sprzątaczka i kawiarz, Stary Browar
Akryl na płótnie 80 x 80 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


16. Woman with Hands Raised (in Rubble)
Kobieta z rękami do góry (w gruzach)
Akryl na płótnie 76 x 61 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


17. Stary Rynek in Winter
Stary Rynek zimą
Akryl na płótnie 80 x 80 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


18. Robin and Winter Still
Rudzik i zimowa gorzelnia
Akryl na płótnie 80 x 80 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


19. Serenade with One String Fiddle
Serenada na jednostrunowych skrzypcach
Akryl na płótnie 110 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


20. Two Figures in a Lane behind Stary Rynek
Dwie postaci w zaułku na tyłach Starego Rynku
Akryl na płótnie 76 x 61 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


21. Three Muses and Woman in Mittens
Trzy muzy i kobieta w mitenkach
Akryl na płótnie 100 x 100 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


22. The Rat Catcher
Szczurołap
Akryl na płótnie 76 x 61 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


23. Reclining Nude with Soldiers
Akt i żołnierze
Akryl na płótnie 90 x 70 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


24. Queen Wanda (Three)
Królowa Wanda (trzy)
Akryl na płótnie 90 x 110 cm
Mike Absalom 2010


25. Jadwiga and her Apron of Roses
Jadwiga i jej różany fartuszek
Akryl na płótnie 110 x 90 cm
Mike Absalom 2010