Throughout history artists have used the line to articulate the relationship between the elemental proportions of voids and fullness. Vertical, horizontal straight, curved, angular - the choice is infinite. The contemporary artist has devoted much time, energy, and passion to rediscovering the essential - in life and in painting.

My present series employs fluid lines over broad monochromatic spaces to deconstruct visual composition to its primary components. The result being a return to the basic immediacy of perception. At each visual juncture only the present moment exists.

The images are drawn from a personal archive - a visual diary and record of countless attempts to chronicle this return. Every painting has been continually refined, capturing a fragment of the momentum to be retrieved by the viewer.

In my practice - whether abstract, figurative, or that based on natural forms - I employ fluid lines over broad multi-paneled canvas to deconstruct visual composition to its primary components.  Each painting is continually refined, the line, form and colour capture both a certain essence as well as the dynamism innate to both the object and our lives. Every painting has been continually refined capturing a fragment of the momentum to be retrieved by the viewer.

- Michael Golland

Michael Golland was born in Yorkshire, England.

Following his studies in engineering and industrial design, Michael combined his artistic gifts and technical expertise for the successful design and manufacture of modern art jewellery. He acted as Art Director for a group of international companies. Moving to Oxford, Michael established his own successful Jewellery Design Studio - Gallery. Constrained by the necessities of commercial design, he dedicated himself to the disciplines of painting and sculpture. He began to travel extensively. Spending time in such places as the west coast of Canada, the American southwest - California, Italy, (especially the marble quarries of Tuscany) and Mexico (where he worked in bronze). 

Michael maintains a studio in Toronto where he devotes his time to painting and sculpture. He has exhibited in Mexico, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom. His works are in many private collections worldwide. 

Golland's art delights and captivates the viewer with its elegance and sensuality. Each painting is an invitation to the viewer to connect with its flow, powerful energy, and the spirit within. Though highly refined, his simple compositions provoke reflections not only on spatial relationships, but also on transcendence, the ungraspability of the moment and the sorrow of its passing. Like them we find ourselves poised on the delicate balance of joy and sorrow that is our life.

- Curator Ilse Gassinger

About Michael

Curator Statements

Artist’s Statement

Copyright 2015 © Michael P. Golland