Mike Worrall “Oddball Visionary” solo show 2025

Mike Worrall cheekily lures the viewer into his labyrinthine, make-believe worlds. Worrall is a master of the art of blurring reality and fantasy. Theatre and illusion prevail, in these surrealist journeys into the imaginary, and if the wrong path is taken, who knows where it may lead. Worrall invites us to step beyond the threshold into the hinterland of the human soul. Each vignette, each composition, is in itself a perfect still from an unfinished film, perhaps left as a talisman by an obscure film-maker. Each painting celebrates a cultural succession borne of the Renaissance, followed by a dash of Baroque grandeur (think Velasquez), as well as the twentieth century champions of Surrealism (think Magritte and Delvaux) who developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself and interpret dreams.

Informed by his background in film, Worrall explores the mysterious and fantastical, as in a dream. His latest series has an oil paint application that is finely applied to the linen surface. He uses an illustrative, mark-making paint technique, the result being rendered, yet illusory, but with minimal loading of paint on the brush.

Paintings such as The Room of Looking Inwards, imply a profundity and paradox via optical illusions, mirrored surfaces and time-lapse scenery. Eccentric figures are humorously portrayed, faces reflected and street walkers lead us along meandering cobblestone walkways to curved glass and brass-framed shopfronts. The exquisite detail in the patina of a medieval building, an avenue of stone pines, and a costumed, imperious lady – demonstrate an obsessive dedication to his historically-placed scenery. It is a language reminiscent of the Renaissance era and Humanism. Irony and wit underscores a vaudevillian celebration of life, a Pan’s labyrinth of possibilities.

Worrall was born in 1942 in Matlock Derbyshire, UK. He has worked in the feature film industry as an “ideas artist”, and a Worrall painting famously inspired director Roman Polanski’s film Macbeth. Based in NSW, Australia, Worrall has been a practicing artist since the early 1960s, exhibiting both locally and internationally.

Art Enthusiasts Gather for Dayle Bolton’s 2024 Show

“Art of Dance, Dayle Bolton’s tenth show with Libby Edwards Galleries, kicked off on Saturday 25th May 2024. Drawing a supportive and enthusiastic, art-loving crowd of admirers, many who travelled two hours from Northern country Victoria. The artist’s recent transition from town to country Victoria, is reflected in works such as “Country Studio”, from her […]

New Arthur Boyd etchings

A rare suite of 6 spectacular black & white Arthur Boyd etchings from the Narcissus series of plates, currently available in the gallery, prints of which are in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, see link to this collection here. Depicted in the backdrop of this mythical series is Bundanon, and the banks […]

Autumn Art Collectors Show

Autumn Collectors Show 2023

Our curated selection of paintings, prints, & drawings by important Australian Artists, is sure to tempt the curious collector and discerning art lover. Investment pieces to add to your collection, entry point and high-end artworks, to suit every budget. 

Christopher Lees

“Fragments” Solo show November 2022

Christopher Lees’ latest series Fragments, is a journey into the spiritual and eternal mythology of the Australian landscape. If Sir Joseph Banks borrowed Stanley Kubrick’s camera, this is what he would have recorded. The artist celebrated his twentieth exhibition anniversary with Libby Edwards Galleries in 2019, and deservedly so, he is now recognised as an artist […]

Patty Owen - Artist

Solo Show | The Naked Wolf

Wayde Owen encapsulates it all, in a graphic short-hand. Re-assembling objects and entities, Owen makes some profound observations about life, and the  structures with which we frame ourselves with semblances of ‘normality’. The realm we share with animals, is of supreme significance to Owen, particularly the anthropomorphism of birds, wolves and dogs. An early childhood […]

Mike Worrall and Roman Polanski

Mike Worrall and Roman Polanski

I cannot recall what inspired me to do it as it was quite a gruesome subject …anyway it appealed to Roman enough to buy it, and, as it turns out more sales to come from it…So it was after the tragic brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate that he was to have the idea […]

Mike Worrall - Artist

Mike Worrall Forthcoming Show

Artistic licence is employed through optical illusions, reflected interiors and time-lapse scenery. Eccentric figures are mysteriously reflected or placed in polished brass and curved glass shopfronts, baroque tree-lined avenues, and intricately cobblestoned streets. There is an obsessive dedication to his historically-placed scenery – culminating in moody tableaus with a language reminiscent of the early modern […]

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