MICHAEL MURFIN 1954 Cambridgeshire, UK

Meet the artist The most important influence on his early artistic development came from Dave Terry, the head of art at his local comprehensive school, where Michael responded with enthusiasm to the idea of producing paintings and drawings as a result of looking at things in a thoughtful and concentrated way, yet keeping the use of materials lively and interesting. It was an approach that built a firm foundation for everything that followed. At art college, Michael embarked on what turned out to be a grand tour of the English midlands — with foundation studies at Leicester, a degree in fine art at Nottingham and a masters in painting at Birmingham. After leaving college he worked for some time as a builders merchants labourer and sawmill assistant while accumulating a series of paintings and drawings that were eventually shown in one of the Serpentine Summer exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery in 1981. After another London exhibition at Imperial College, Michael’s work was shown regularly throughout the 1980s and 90s by the Piccadilly Gallery in London. They also took his work to international contemporary art fairs in London, Basel and Cologne. Michael has also shown his work more locally in St Neots, Huntingdon, Peterborough and in one of his favourite exhibition spaces — The Yarrow Gallery at Oundle School in Northamptonshire (where he has been Artist in Residence on three occasions). More recently he has been supported by Woodbine Contemporary Arts in Spalding and Uppingham. His disposition as an artist is naturally inclined to find cultural resonances in the everyday world. His aim is to execute work with sufficient craft, wit and intelligence to make looking at his pictures a rewarding, regenerative and life-affirming experience. www.aglutinart.blogspot.com