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Michael Harris is a self-taught oil painter, song writer and world traveller from Toronto Canada. Following a brief stint studying graphic design at college, Michael turned to travel for inspiration and adventure. Several months of immersion in the galleries and culture of Europe at 19 was followed by a year of travel in Australia at 21. At 24, to mark his transition to the ranks of professional artist, Michael took his paints and palette on a year long trip around the world - painting his way through Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, Nepal, India, Greece, Turkey and the UK. Between trips he honed his skills as a working artist, doing everything from reproductions for an international art company and illustration to portraiture, murals and other private commissions. Michael has spent years developing his approach to painting in oils. The focus of his most recent work includes the intriguingly psychological series of young women with bikes, cell phones and cameras and his surprisingly intimate, large scale paintings of his Romanian model Amalia… which he describes as “a means of catching and transmitting those mercurial qualities of 'being' which transcend any one person. They connect us to something in all of us. Something we instinctively recognize. Something good”. Michael's work is influenced by his interest in psychology, media, politics and philosophy.
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