Michael Sole

“The concept behind my paintings completely relies upon the idea of involuntary mark making. How the materials react with one another and how I go about applying them to the canvas. With this concept in mind, nature, with its natural geometry, is the perfect subject as a base to experiment from.”

Michael Sole’s method of painting involves placing the canvas on the floor of his studio, pouring and splashing the paint over it. This method Sole has come to denote ‘Involuntarylism’, which allows the paints characteristics and gravity to produce the marks, creating organic patterns, atmosphere and substantiation, and thus allowing the painting a life of its own.
In this method the artist’s involvement is purely to manipulate the paint, canvas, colours and consistencies so as to exaggerate as strongly as possible the resulting organic textures and marks. A kind of ‘puppeteering’ of the paint by using gravity, as well as built up knowledge of the materials and prior experience in order to create the finished result.

Sole starts his painting process embedded in the elements for inspiration, often spending weeks or months at a time in nature, observing and sketching the chosen subjects in watercolour or on his iPad. Then, at a later stage, the work moves into Sole’s studio where the subject is translated onto the canvas.
Rarely does only one painting derive from one sketch or subject, more often, a whole series of paintings can be created.

“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.

I paint what gets my heart beating fast as I know I will put, intuitively, my all into it! Windy rainy stormy days and movement in nature, strong colour contrasts in the sky and in the sea. I quite often pick the subjects that I know my materials and processes compliment well as I know when I start painting I get as inspired by the materials and processes as I do from the subject itself.”

Michael Sole, born in 1985, is an English painter with his studio based in Bournemouth, UK.
Over the last few years Sole has had great achievements on the British and International art scenes, having partaken in numerous exhibitions and art fairs both throughout the UK as well as in France, North America, Hong Kong and Singapore. Sole holds winning and finalist titles from several prestigious awards such as the Global Art Awards, National Open Art Award, Cill Railag residency award and Dorset Landscape Painter of the Year in 2017, Sherfield Open Exhibitions in 2016, ‘The Arts Club Charitable Trust Award’ from the Royal Society of Marine Artists’ annual exhibition in 2013 and ‘Young Artist of the Year’ from the Royal Society of Marine Artists’ in 2010 and 2009.
Sole began his painting career with a scholarship at Blundell’s in Devon, after which he went on to Wimbledon College in London from where he holds a BA in Fine Arts.

In 2018 Sole spent a year out, travelling in South America gathering new inspiration for his work. Since the beginning of this year he is back in Bournemouth, creating yet again in his new studio.

Besides being a passionate and brilliant painter, Sole is also a strong advocate for our world oceans, and Lindberg-on-Sea Art Gallery is now proud to exclusively present – for the very first time on the Scandinavian art market –Michael Sole along with his visionary artworks, coupling perfectly with Lindberg-on-Sea Art Gallery’s concept of Maritime Aware Art.