About Antony Micallef
Antony Micallef is a British contemporary artist working in London.
He was notably taught by the austere landscape painter John Virtue, who was taught by the postwar painter Frank Auerbach.
He has been selected as one of Louis Vuitton’s Visionaries and is currently taking part in a world tour showcasing his work. His paintings features in collections across the world and has two pieces in the permanent collection of the London Design Museum. He has also exhibited in group shows in prominent institutions as The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Academy, Tate Britain and the ICA.
Described as a modern Expressionist and widely recognised as one of the finest painters in contemporary art today, Micallef roots his work in social commentary and self-examination. Known for his visually charged figure paintings, Micallef’s series of works in his exhibition Raw Intent were a complete departure from his earlier artworks. In his more recent works, he builds up a relief-like surface with heavy paint to depict a figurative mass in front of a muted background. By using an impasto technique and layering effects, the material is literally pushed to its extreme and blurs our reading of painting and sculpture.
His heavily laden, texture-rich canvases are reminiscent of artists as diverse as Auerbach, Kossoff, the White Russian-French painter Chaim Soutine and the British painter Walter Sickert, whose works explore and ultimately foreground the pure materiality of the medium of paint. All these artists are united by the desire to exploit the expressive possibilities of oil paint, with the emotional power of material form on canvas seen as an end in itself. For Micallef, painting takes on traits of a violent struggle in which the paint is thrown onto and knocked off the canvas.
Institutions and Museums
2024 Dominion, Damien Hirst Collection, Newport Street Gallery
2023 “25 Years” Exhibition MUCA Museum. Germany
2022 Louis Vuitton family home in Asnières. France
2021 The London Design Museum, Permanent Collection,UK
2021 Louis Vuitton Visionary 200th Birthday
2021 Bristol Museum. M Shed, Vanguard Exhibition UK
2019 Canterbury Cathedral, Easter projections, UK
2019 Chatsworth House Arts Festival 2019 UK
2018 MUCA Munich Museum, History of Portraits Germany
2017 Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery UK
2014 Royal Academy, Summer Show, London UK
2013 Copelouzos Family Art Museum, Athens, Greece
2012 The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
2009 Royal Academy, GSK Contemporary, London UK
2009 Elton john Aids Foundation, Sculpture Garden UK
2008 Tate Britain, Goodison room, London, UK
2008 Warrington Museum and Art Gallery, UK
2006 National Portrait Gallery, London UK
2005 National Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
2000 Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, BP Portrait, Scotland
2000 National Portrait Gallery, BP Portrait London, UK
1998 Gjethuset Cultural Centre, Denmark
1998 Art Uk Collections. Supported by the British Arts Council.
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Pearl Lam, Art Basel Spotlight, Hong Kong
2016 Pearl Lam, Raw Intent, Pedder Building Space, Hong Kong
2015 Lazarides, Self, Rathbourne, London, UK[13]
2012 Lazarides, A Little Piece of Me, The Outsiders London, UK
2011 Lazarides, Happy Deep Inside My Heart, Rathbourne, London, UK
2009 Lazarides, Becoming Animal, Rathbourne, London, UK
2007 Lazarides, Impure Idols, Los Angeles, USA
2006 Lazarides, It’s A Wonderful World, London, UK
2006 Eyestorm, Milian, Italy
2005 National Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria
Selected Group Exhibitions and Art Fairs
2024 Eye of the Collector, Dellespossa Gallery
2024 9 Frieze Official, Cork Street.’Episode I: Bump’ – Matt Carey-Williams
2024 Art Seoul, Pearl Lam Galleries
2024 Art Basel Hong Kong, Pearl Lam Galleries
2024 Art Stage Singapore, Pearl Lam Galleries
2023 Art Basel Hong Kong, Pearl Lam Galleries
2023 Peter Gabriel i/o tour/ Madison Square Garden NYC, USA
2023 Eye of the Collector, Dellesposa Gallery London, UK
2022 Louis Vuitton Visionary, NYC, USA
2022 Louis Vuitton Visionary, LA, USA
2022 Art Cologne, Pearl Lam Galleries, Germany
2022 Art Basel Hong Kong, Pearl Lam Galleries
2022 Longhouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York, USA
2022 MPV Gallery, Netherlands
2022 Unit Gallery, London
2022 Louis Vuitton Visionary, Singapore
2021 West Bund Shanghai, Pearl Lam Galleries
2021 Cosmoscow, Pearl Lam Galleries, Russia
2021 Christie’s Wellchild Charity Exhibition, UK
2020 Art Basel Viewing Rooms, Pearl Lam, Hong Kong
2020 Intersect Aspen Viewing Rooms, US
2019 Art Basel, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
2018 Art Basel, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
2018 Artist Watchlist, Frieze London, UK
2017 Art Basel, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
2017 Art Miami, USA
2017 Art Busan, Korea
2017 Nottingham Castle Museum, Reportrait, Nottingham, UK
2017 Pearl Lam, Art Brussels, Belgium
2017 Art Busan, Korea
2017 Circle Culture, Berlin, Germany
2017 Pearl Lam, Art Brussels, Belgium
2017 Pearl Lam, Art stage, Singapore, Malaysia
2016 Pearl Lam, Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, Shanghai, China
2016 Josh Linar Galley, New York, USA
2016 Pearl Lam, Art stage, Jakarta, Indonesia
2016 Royal College of Art, Secret Postcard Exhibition, (charity supporting younger artists) UK
2016 Pearl Lam, Art Basel, Hong Kong, China
2016 Pearl Lam, Art stage Singapore, Malaysia
2015 Pearl Lam, Art Seoul, South Korea
2015 Pearl Lam, Expo Chicago, USA
2015 Pearl Lam, Sydney Contemporary, Australia
2015 Pearl Lam, West Bund Art Centre, Shanghai, China
2015 Pearl Lam, Harpers Bazaar Indonesia Art Fair, Jakarta, Indonesia
2014 Royal Academy, Royal Academy Summer Show, London, UK
2014 Kill your Idol, St Marylebone Parish Church, London, UK
2014 Dallas Contemporary, MTV RE:DEFINE, Goss Micheal Foundation, Dallas, USA
2014 Lazarides, Art14 London, London, UK
2013 Copelouzos Familay Art Museum, Athens, Greece
2013 National Museum of Warsaw, Nowa Sztuka, Poland
2013 Saatchi Gallery, Artwars, London, UK
2012 Lazarides, Pop-up, The Old Vic Tunnels, Bedlam, London, UK
2012 The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Peace One Day, London, UK
2011 Bertrand & Gruner, Cabinet de Curiosities, Geneva, Switzerland
2011 Lazarides Pop-up, Old Vic Tunnels, Minotaur, London, UK
2010 Lazarides, Hells Half Acre Show, Old Vic Tunnels, London, UK
2010 Lazarides, Eurotrash, Los Angeles, USA
2009 The New Art Gallery, Outsiders, Walsall UK
2009 Old Vic Theatre, Tunnel 228, London, UK.
2009 Journey, Washington Place, New York ,USA
2009 Lazarides, Grow Up, London, UK
2008 Tate Britain, Curwen Print exhibition, London, UK
2008 Royal Academy GSK Contemporary, London, UK
2008 Lazarides Pop-up, The Outsiders New York, USA
2008 The Outsiders, Outsiders, London, UK
2007 Santa’s Ghetto, Manger Square, Bethlehem
2006 Santas Ghetto, Oxford Street, London Uk
2006, Arcuate Arte Contemporaneo, Another Fucking Collective, Mexico
2006 National Portrait Gallery, Mystery Portrait Exhibition, London, UK
2005, Santas Ghetto, Beak Street, London UK
2005 ManHan Gallery, 44 Boards: Human Rights Coalition, Ohio, USA
2005, Alphabet Gallery, How I learned to Stop Working and Love the Bomb, London, UK
2005 Millenaris Park, Budapest, Hungary
2006 Eyestorm Milan, Italy
2004 A.D Gallery, California, USA
2000 The National Portrait Gallery, BP Portrait award. 2nd Prize London, UK
1998 Gjethuset Cultural Centre, Denmark
1996 Woodbine Contemporary Arts, UK
Photography by David Bailey ©