Michael Sole Archives - Belgravia Gallery

Interested in nature and the re-evaluation of its painterly tradition, the art of Michael Sole explores painting as a process using the great outdoors as a subject matter.
To gain inspiration he places himself into the environment he paints, enabling him to bring thoughts, ideas, and the physical presence of the landscape back into the studio and onto his canvases.

“Nature is fascinating to me, especially in extreme circumstances, storms etc. In painting I feel very strongly that energy must be met with energy. By this I mean big seas and powerful subject matter benefits from energetic, physical and confident painting which usually includes allowing the paint to have its own way, without using a brush. Dripping, pouring, throwing, lifting, shaking etc all add to these involuntary effects. Through these processes and techniques I hope to capture the power and atmosphere of the environment that I have placed myself into”.

Sole says he is striving to achieve a state of ‘Involuntaryism’ a concept of the built up knowledge in the artists hand is permitted to come through in an instinctive approach to the application of the materials in this case they include oils, bitumen, PVA and emulsion.