Michael is interested in the possibilities for painting in a contemporary world largely dominated by technology, specifically digital technology. His research is an ongoing exploration of how painting may be altered by such a dialogue when used in conjunction with technology and also what it may offer as an alternative.
In Michael’s largely process-based paintings he is interested in exploring both authorship and detachment alongside a deeper alchemical engagement with the substance of paint. Recently Michael has begun using microscopes to create digital microscopic watercolours which explore the structure and nature of paint itself, moving between pigment and pixel.
Michael has also had a long-standing interested in how and if abstract painting can still explore or reference types of spiritual experience within a largely atheistic culture. To this end Michael explores the need for new approaches in contemporary abstract painting which use a language of doubt described through terms such as the unknowable.