The Figurative Art of Michael Price
Tempera and Oil Paintings with Gold Leaf, Natural & Mineral Pigments
Selection of Minerals, azurite, lapis lazuli, cinnabar, malachite, orpiment, realgar, vivianite, purpurite
gold leaf and bistre ink on paper
gold leaf and bistre ink on paper
gold leaf and bistre ink on paper
A Part of Eternity, gold leaf, natural and mineral pigments, tempera, distemper, oil paint, canvas on panel
Nude of the Spirit
Introduction
Throughout history, the nude, whether male or female, when expressed as a unity of imagination and perception, invariably exhibits a dignity
which far removes it from social concepts of nakedness. With each age, the nude whether in painting or sculpture has undergone its own
transformation becoming modified and redefined in the process. My personal development and redefinition of the nude focuses on the “perception”
that our corporeality is an extension of a transcendent reality. This relationship between body, spirit and soul has been a theological preponderant
for almost two thousand years.
Chromatic Sequence No. 18, Time Immemorial, Gold leaf, natural and mineral pigments, casein distemper and oil, linen on panel
gold leaf and bistre ink on paper
Chromatic Sequence No. 18, Time Immemorial. 2009.
Gold leaf (24 carat), natural and mineral pigments in casein distemper and oil
on linen on panel. Diptych: 165 x 219 cm / 65 x 86.2 ins.
The Real and the Imaginary
C. G. Jung wrote in ‘Mysterium Coniunctionis’ (vol.14 of his collected writings): “The existence of a transcendental reality is indeed evident in
itself, but is uncommonly difficult for our consciousness to construct intellectual models which would give a graphic description of the reality we
have perceived”. My insight into this fundamental issue has changed over the years from my dynamic ephemeral figures of the 1980’s to my most
recent polychromatic nudes which attest this basic precept that the archetypal world inside ourselves is just as real - or imaginary - as the physical
world we inhabit.
The Drawing and Painting
Nearly all my work starts with drawing from the
life model, or occasionally ancient Greek
sculptures. The work explores each model’s
kinaesthetic awareness through spontaneous and
undirected movement. Each drawing session thus
becomes a minimalist theatre of the imagination.
The paintings are developed from this material.
My work is an exploration of the nude as the
central and fundamental archetype of human
existence. The archetype is not a thing in itself,
but an experience of the spirit. The paintings
focus on the integration of the figure and its
dynamic energy field or aura. This sometimes
takes on its own abstract form as in the diptychs
of the
‘Chromatic Sequences’ - like standing in
front of a mirror and seeing one's own
immortality reflected from the mortal
'perspective'. This is a personal response to Paul
Tillich’s
'the ultimate concern of being'. The
use of gold-leaf since 2008 is in the traditional
role of late European medieval and early
Renaissance painting in which the alchemical
purification of the human spirit is elevated or
transmuted from base material into gold (either
literally or metaphorically according to the
individual’s perception of reality). The gold-leaf
not only defines the picture plane, but also
functions as an integral spiritual and visual
component of the painting.

The Pigments
The natural and mineral pigments I use produce a
very different palette of colour and luminosity
compared to modern synthetic pigments whether
as oil or tempera paint. The pigments include
lapis lazuli, azurite, malachite, cinnabar,
orpiment, realgar, vivianite, purpurite, red and
green jaspers, stibnite, pyrolusite, cerussite,
galena, calcite, quartz and Japanese oyster-shell
white (Gofun). Other natural pigments include
natural indigo, the root madders, cochineal red,
and earth and ochre pigments. I have published
three papers on mineral pigment preparation and
application since 2000.
Michael Price one person show, Walter Wickiser gallery
Michael Price one person show, Walter Wickiser gallery.
Chromatic Sequence No. 17, Intimations of Immortality, gold leaf, natural and mineral pigments, tempera, distemper, oil paint, linen, panel
Copyright © Michael Price Inc.
Solo show at the Walter Wickiser Gallery, Chelsea, New York, September 2009.