Michelle Key

My work could be described as paintings of memories and of feelings, that have been re-imagined.

Have you ever watched someone who is oblivious to your gaze, yet you see them being conscious of being seen?

With social media, people put out images of themselves without any idea who will see them, I’m finding people are making intimate connections with people they know very little about… I find this innocence and desire to be seen and recognized by the virtual friend as very perplexing. Ironically I am doing the same as I write this artist statement. Being an artist I guess that’s what we do when we make art.

I have a fascination with old photographs. A photograph has a nostalgia about the fleeting moment that has passed. These after-images transform our memories and re-present that moment in time when the viewer encounters that object.

Paintings are also material objects that often linger in our memories long after we had seen them. An encounter with an artwork becomes entangled and intertwined with the viewer's memory, the viewer brings their own experiences and their inventory of memories shift because of it.

The themes in which I engage in have less to do with the memory of that scene, but more to with sens...

University of Witwatersrand South Africa: DIP Graphic Design
University of Rhodes South Africa: Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA-Distinction)
Masters of Fine Arts: Sculpture (MFA -Distinction)
2004 Thesis published Title: Betwixt and Between: exploring the passage of liminal space. Publisher: Rhodes University. Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art

2018 BSPP| SALON DES REFUSÉS - St John of God Health Care Hospital Touring Exhibition - Australia
2017 Málaga Art Fair - Spain
2017May London Royal Art Show - United Kingdom
2017 Equitana Benezera Gallery - Spain
2017 March The Other Art Fair - United Kingdom
2016 November Group Exhibition Perth Raw - Australia
2016/2012 Clifton International Art Finalist - Australia
2005-2010 Public Sculptures, Painted Commissions - South Africa
2004 Solo Exhibition Grahamstown - South Africa
2003 Solo Exhibition - South Africa