Mackenzie painter has debut art show here
Good paintings make good neighbours.
Michael Doyle is from up the highway in Mackenzie, but he has been making inroads with Prince George during the last year, and this city’s Community Arts Council has taken him under their wing like one of the dark angels he sometimes imagines onto canvas.
Doyle’s debut solo exhibition, his first here or anywhere outside of Mackenzie, is now open at the CAC’s feature gallery at Studio 2880. He has been included in duo or group exhibitions held in Victoria and at the Federation of Canadian Artists’ studio at Granville Island. He has been taking small steps into the Prince George scene, taking part in events like the 6x6 miniature art show held by the CAC, the 10x10 exhibition held by Ridge Side Art, and signing up for the most recent Art Battle event where he earned a spot in the finals, so that more than caught the attention of the CAC’s organizers.
“We are very happy to feature Michael Doyle in our October Feature Gallery. Studio 2880 has always been supportive of all our regional artists,” said Lisa Redpath, the CAC’s program manager.
“Michael’s work has an incredible honesty and truth, and his skill as an oil painter is remarkable. The whole collection is emotional and meaningful.”
The subject matter is reflective of the exhibition’s title. The Struggle is emblematic of the hard times everyone has or will one day go through. These paintings acknowledge and artistically embrace that pain and fear, but also remind us that there is light in our lives if we seek it, love if we work towards it.
For Doyle, the struggle dates back to his years of substance abuse. He is now well down the path of sobriety and said his painting technique came to life when he closed that door. The act of painting also acts as a therapeutic distraction, a focus that left no room for sliding back into old negative habits.
“I have a full-time job at Canfor, and I’m a dad for my three girls (aged six months through seven years old), and I try to put at least 30 hours a week into my painting,” Doyle said.
Another motivating factor is audience affirmation. He was surprised by the positive feedback he got from a much wider range of people than he anticipated would ever be interested in skulls, dark angels and moody clowns.
“The audience up north is changing,” he said. “Thirty years ago it was all about wildlife and realism. It says something that people are showing an interest in what I do. I’m influenced by tattoo art, graphic design, the culture of the ’90s. There’s some realism to it, but there’s a lot of surrealism and imagination involved.”
Subject matter can often transcend personal taste if the artist’s skill cannot be denied. Doyle takes his work as seriously as any professional, working primarily in oil and canvas but always ready to bend the rules of tools and techniques.
“I don’t really have a go-to pallet,” he said. “The colours form as I go through the piece. It’s ever changing. A lot of times I like to put a pop of colour in with darker subject matter.”
He estimates he uses an even mix of synthetic brushes with hog bristle and red sable.
His surfaces are also a focus of attention, even before he begins. He uses canvas primarily but finds that larger pieces have too much pliability in the middle so he reinforces the canvas with a wood subsurface but that hybrid wears out his brushes more quickly. He works within the tradeoffs.
Another aspect of the serious painter’s career is marketing the work.
He comes from a generation in between the traditional old practices of relying on galleries to spread the word, and the frenetic social media advertising spray. He has some familiarity with each, but isn’t a master of either, he said.
His main focus is building his inventory. The Struggle was an exhibition culled from a number of paintings he had already in place, leaving entire sets of subject matter behind, like his portraits or recent interest in bears. Those just didn’t fit this show, he said, so he already has the basis for other exhibitions.
The Struggle is on at Studio 2880 (located at 2880 15th Avenue) until Nov. 2. It is free to drop in and view.
— Michael Doyle