The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham will be showing Michael's portrait of Sir John Tavener as part of a collection of portraits of 20th century composers. The exhibition, a joint project with the National Portrait Gallery titled "Facing the Music", will be formally opened by Michael on 24th May and will run from 25th May- 27th August 2012.
Michael's portrait of jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard is on show as part of an exibition called "Local Heroes" which showcases the Holburne Museum Portrait Prize commissions, and runs from 21st April-24th June 2012.
Michael will be showing three figure paintings at this year's Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries. The exhibition runs from 3rd-18th of May.
Self Portrait (In Memory of my Father) was acquired by The National Portrait Gallery, London in February, 2012. It joins their collection of artists' self portraits.
The first four months of the year have been spent creating a Self Portrait with Grave Goods (and shaving mirror). It formed the culmination of six years of non stop work which provided the content for my two one man shows at Waterhouse and Dodd, interspersed with one or two portrait commissions. I saw this self portrait, a commission from a Turkish collector, as a chance to reflect on this period and finally dump myself and a collection of redundant props and metaphoric objects in the attic tomb, and seal the entrance.
Michael's portrait of crime fiction writer, P D.James is currently on display in Room 37 at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
This painting was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in 1996. It has been loaned by the NPG to 10 Downing Street and to the Geffrye Museum. It was also the subject of a Channel 4 television program in 2002.
Michael's portrait of Paul Beckett, amateur heavyweight boxer, committed Manx lawyer, qualified masseur and tattooed man with an appetite for human rights issues was exhibited at this year's Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries 24th April-11th May 2008.
Michael's portrait of P D James is on loan to an exhibition of British paintings and drawings of English , middle class, urban domestic spaces 1914-2006 at the Geffrye Museum.
The portrait, which is on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, was painted in 1997 in the author's Holland park home. The exhibition which is the third part of a major survey of the genre runs from 16th October 2007 until 4th February 2008
In 2006, Michael was commissioned by the UK Houses of Parliament to paint the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, for the House of Lords collection. The reform of the role in 2006 has meant that in effect the painting marks the last in a line of such portraits stretching back to the Norman Conquest. The portrait was unveiled at the house of Lords on July 9th 2007.
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