Nature or Nurture
There is an emphasis in my current work, on the notions of nature and nurture. The parent and child relationship and human kind and the world it shares and inhabits. A microcosm and macrocosm of each other, as both roles reverse in an ongoing cycle of birth and death.Is nurture more powerful than nature? Or vice versa? The answers to these questions are of course important, if we wish to understand the human predicament.
What is of greater pragmatic importance than the knowledge in our conscious and unconscious minds however, is how we make use of that knowledge, to impact upon our situation and our future.
My work is a process of trying to begin to understand the complexities of our predicament. The works role is to instigate meaning and understanding, rather than to present conclusions.
Michael Gustavius Payne
May 2004
Michael Payne was born in 1969 in Merthyr Tydfil,Wales. From 1991-93 he studied
in Glamorgan Centre of Art & Design Technology and from 1993-96 he went on to
study at Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education during which time
he spent one year studying in Greece at Athens School of Fine Art.
"Quirky View of a Fragile Dreamscape" Hannah Jones - Arts Editor
His work is the stuff that Dreams, Fairytales, Myths and Nightmares are made of. Using signs and symbols in a narrative context, refering back to his personal predicaments, intending also to refer back to more basic human issues, Michael Gustavius Payne's paintings are products of both the conscious and unconscious mind.
The Merthy-born artist, whose images are often borrowed from the imagery of established myths and foldtales, says "These are mde from the same ingredients as dremas, fairytales, myths and nightmares.
"The great difficulty in creating this kind of work is perhaps in retaining the fragile balance between both the conscious and the unconscious.
"I want to be informed and aware of conscious interpretations but also free to allow images to appear and develop openly, without prejudice or fear of (mis)interpretation." His quirky approach takes ideas from established Celtic and Greek legends which are then interwoven with his own history as a young man growing up in the rapidly dienfranchised mining communitites of Wales.
What saves his work from disturbing the viewer too much is his humour, which comes through in intriguing and symbolic pictures.
The artist believes that contemporary culture is now highly conscious of its regional roots in a global world.
"I think some of the content may appear dark for some tastes, though the images are no darker than many myths, fairytales, Bible stories, computer games or news reports."