Michael Tierney
St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, United Kingdom
About Michael Tierney
Michael Tierney has exhibited and sold nationally and internationally. In June 2016 his was work was published in the Guardian newspaper (including Image of The Week), The Royal Academy's website and Dazed.com alongside internationally renowned artists including, Wolfgang Tillmans, Michael Craig Martin, Antony Gormley, Eva Rothschild, and Rankin as part of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign. The Wall Street Journal have called him a "rising star". In 2014 a selection of his work was exhibited in the Saatchi exhibition “Spring Fever” at the Hyatt Regency in London and as a runner-up for the Smirnoff Winter Pride Art Award his work chosen for exhibition at Lacey Contemporary.
Tierney’s artwork celebrates and reflects the diverse and multi-layered aspects of contemporary culture that surround and sometimes overwhelm us. His imagery is inspired by everything from travel, nature, science, history and religion to video games, pop videos and new technology.
The ambiguous landscapes of his complex compositions are based upon places once visited, as memories, impressions, or snatched glimpses from a window whilst passing through unfamiliar terrains. Inhabited by a bizarre menagerie of characters and creatures, miscellanea and symbols plucked from reality, myth and the artist’s imagination, Tierney’s flotsam and jetsam appears to be in a fight for recognition and space like the shiny knick-knacks and toys piled high on the overstuffed shelves of a souvenir shop.
Incorporating acrylic, emulsion and pastel, his mixed-media, unique visual mash-up of ideas and simulacra is expressed through a vibrant use of colour and technique, where bold graphic lines and shapes merge with the naïve and dramatic. Encapsulating multiple narratives, sometimes dark and often humorous, this juxtaposition of the familiar with the alien creates a tension between reality and euphoric fantasy, conceptualizing a frenzied and chaotic world in which we can often feel over-stimulated and disorientated.
Website: www.michaeltierney.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaeltierneyart
Education:
BA Fine Art, Brighton University, 2010. Grade: First Class Honours.
University of Brighton Scholarship, October 2009
University of Brighton Scholarship, October 2008
Hastings College of Art, Diploma in Foundation Studies, 2007. Grade: Distinction
Exhibitions:
•EAST SUSSEX OPEN, TOWNER GALLERY, Eastbourne, 11th July - 20th September 2015
•SMIRNOFF WINTER PRIDE ARTS AWARD, Lacey Contemporary, London, 18th - 29th November 2014
•SPRING FEVER, EMERGING ARTISTS FROM SAATCHI ART, Hyatt Regency, The Churchill, London, 27th March - September 2014
•COASTAL CURRENTS OPEN STUDIOS, Alfred street, St Leonards on Sea, 21st, 22nd & 28th, 29th September 2013
•NATASHA AT HOME, Great Western Studios, London, 4th - 11th May 2012
•BENTLEY’S Fine Art Auctioneers, Modern and Contemporary Art Sale, 8th & 9th March 2012
•SUBMIT2GRAVITY "You are not in control", Netil House, London. June 23rd - 7th July 2011
•SECOND LIFE, Group exhibition, Hastings Arts Forum, November 2008
•SKYLON, Group exhibition, Skylon, St Leonards on Sea, September 2008
•SPACE TIME PLACE, Group exhibition, Pine Gallery, Hastings, February 2008
Selections and Nominations
•Finalist (juried vote), Saatchi Online, Places and Spaces Showdown, Oct 2012,
•Finalist, Saatchi Online, Collage Showdown, Jan 2012, http://www.saatchionline.com/showdown/finalist/showdown/9
•Selected for “Apocalypse Now” exhibition at Marzia Frozen, Berlin, Dec 2011
•Selected for “Contemporary Art for Christmas” exhibition at the Lloyd Gill Gallery, Nov - Dec 2011
http://www.saatchionline.com/collections/view/owner/290742/collection/4044
•Shortlisted for the “Art of Giving” exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, September 2010
•Nominated for the Vincent Lines Trust Award in Creative Excellence, June 2009
•Nominated for the Vincent Lines Trust Award in Creative Excellence, June 2007
