Michael Digby Bartlett
‘A picture is a secret about a secret, the more it tells you the less you know.’
Diane Arbus
Mike Bartlett makes paintings of galleries, paintings of people, paintings of shows and inevitably paintings of paintings.
This doubling interaction between observer, viewer and viewed becomes an ambiguous statement on the nature of the public act of looking at pictures and the private one of making them.
Bartlett travels around attending exhibitions and recording his observations with a distinctive painting style. Bartlett paints in a loosely expressive style with richly coloured layers.
Behind the everyday ‘going to see a show’ which all artists do, Bartlett has found a conceptual impetus for using this ‘going’ as the spur on for back-in-the-studio image-making.
Photography, images from historical and contemporary art are often included in Bartlett’s paintings.
His source of imagery is often layered and added too to create immersive Utopias and Dystopias which allows him the flexibility to expand his scope to include images from childhood stories or use the ‘Zoo’ as a place of looking and viewing and to explore cultural issues around Art and contemporary life.
‘He approaches each subject with respect and tenderness with a very strong sense of humanity. The works are not just cold observations.
Lived Experience
I am now based in a Studio attached to my home near Portsmouth . I have collaborated on art projects with Cathy Lomax, Daniel Pryde-Jarman, Arturo Cascario, Colin Merrin and many other Artists. I have to say one of my influenses was the late R B Kitaj . Also Cathy Lomax who was gracious enough to show my work at The Transition Gallery, Alan Kluckow and Rebecca Crow .I am a keen ‘Pompey ’ supporter and enjoy nature too. Painting has always been my passion.
Qualifications and training
2004 - BA (Hons) First Class in Fine Art, School of Art and Design, University of Portsmouth 1998 - BA Education, School of Education, University of Portsmouth
Exihibition
2025 Tribute to Derek Boshier , Jack House Gallery, Southsea
2020 Online Art, Chapel Arts , Andover
Seeing Red , Jack House Gallery, Southsea
Picture Palace, Transition Two London
People Pictures, Sarah Jeffries, Kevin Dean, Jack House Gallery
2019 Picture Interrupted with Sarh Jeffries, Transition Gallery ,
2018 Very Small Paintings, Jack House Gallery, Southsea
2017 Narratives, Studio Gallery of Dr. Marius Von Brasch, Isle of Wight
2016 30/30 with Enzo Marra, Transition Gallery , London
Let's Make a Better World, The Cello factory, London
The Names, Transition Gallery , London
The Names, Sluice Art Fair, Oxo Tower, London
2015 Paper , Transition Gallery at The Sluice Art Fair, London
Miraculous Urgency , Now and Again. Brighton
Secret , Royal College of Art, London
Heads, Yellow Gallery, Italy
2014 ART/Converters! Studio 1.1, London
Atomic, Transition Off-site , London
Secret , Royal College of Art, London
The Lost Hour, Gasp gallery Portsmouth
2013 Solo :Stansted Heads, Stansted House, West Sussex
Secret , Royal College of Art, London
Duplicity, Transition Gallery, London
2012 Escape, Transition off site at Aid & Abet Cambridge
400 Women, Sugar City, Holland
Equinox, Transition Gallery, London
Turtle Salon, Meter Room, Coventry
2011 Secret, Royal College of Art, London
Curated: ZOO, Meter Room, Coventry
Sluice Art Fair with Transition Gallery, London
Curated: ComeTogether/Come Appart, Gasp Gallery , Portsmouth
400 Women, Canongate Venture, Edinburgh Festival
We are all in this together, Bureau, Manchester
Fade Away, Gallery North, Newcastle plus Publication
2010 Fade Away, Transition Gallery London
ARTBLITZ, Transition Gallery, London
400 Women, Shoreditch Old Town Hall, London
Big Society, Space Station 65, London
Doubles, with Cathy Lomax, Stone Gallery , Dublin
Left of Vision 3, SOAS, University of London
2009 Curated: The Days Before, with Cathy Lomax, Patrick Galway, Marcus Cope. The Grey Area , Brighton
The Image Duplicator, with Cathy Lomax, CA Projects,London
Drawing with Dolphins, Crimes Town Gallery, London
2008 AWOPBOPALOOBOP, Transition Gallery, London
Forget Me, Fort Brockhurst, Gosport
The Image Duplicator, with Cathy Lomax at gAsp Gallery and Aspex ARC space, Portsmouth
Start Your Collection, Contemporary Art Projects , Rivington Street, London
The Painting Room , Transition Gallery, London
Lost, Solo Show, Millais Gallery Project Space, Southampton
Left of Vision 2, SOAS, University of London
Annual Summer Exhibition, Oisin Gallery, Dublin
2007 Peer Esteem, Five Years Gallery, London
Repetition, Havana Gallery, Southsea
Old Age, Tribal Urge, Southsea
Snake Oil Van Gallery, Manchester Art Car Parade, Manchester
Turning the Tide on Climate Change, Portsmouth Carhedral, Southsea
Summer and Winter Shows,Oisin Gallery, Dublin
Left in Vision,SOAS, University of London
Art Shed,Mantle Arts, Leic.
Resurgence, Langstone Gate, Havant
2006 Residency:As It Is, The Gallery in Cork Street,Art Space Residency, London
Grotto, Studio 1.1, London
Peace Camp, selected by Bob and Roberta Smith, Brick Lane Gallery, London
Gift, Museum Man, Liverpool Biennial Fringe, Liverpool
Curated:Rework/Replay,The Grey Area, Brighton
Objects in Waiting,End Gallery, Sheffield Hallam University
Famous Last Words,The Grey Area, Brighton
Temporary Contemporary,Cornerhouse Gallery, Manchester
H-Hammer,Terrace Gallery. Dalston, London
2005 Fuck Art Lets Paint, Transition Gallery, London
Faces,Art Car Museum ,Houston, Texas
Faces, 20/21 Visual Art Centre, Scunthorpe
2004 Redundancy,Aspex Gallery Project Space, Portsmouth
Curated:Private Views, Third Floor Art Gallery, Portsmouth
Solo: Point of View, Sadler Gallery, Havant
2003 Self Portrait,Southampton City Art Gallery
View, Artsway ,New Forest
Sandwich,Other Gallery, Southsea
2002 Animal, Artsway, New Forest
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