Michael Whittle

‘My voice proclaims
How exquisitely the individual Mind
(And the progressive powers perhaps no less
Of the whole species) to the external World
Is fitted:—and how exquisitely, too,
Theme this but little heard of among Men,
The external World is fitted to the Mind . . .’

William Wordsworth, Prospectus to ‘The Recluse’ 1814

The stylus is one of the simplest and most economical instruments of scientific practice. Apparently unsophisticated though ubiquitous, it plays a constitutive role in the production of knowledge. In the context of scientific research, both drawing and writing concretize cognitive processes and in this way open up an interaction between perception and reflection, between the securing of phenomena and the formation of theses.

Many objects and phenomena become available and comprehensible only through drawn and written records. Moreover, the activity of writing and drawing constitutes one of the most critical steps in scientific research: the step from (potentially) ambiguous data to stable facts.

In a deviation returning some level of uncertainty, my own process of drawing creates alternative systems of reference, networks of carefully selected images forced in to association with one another which become codes imbued with special hieroglyphic aura. My works often make allusions both to the human visual system and also to systems of evolution, a poetics of vision and division.

The Central Nervous System has evolved to decipher and reconstruct the sensory World in which it exists and is very much part of, as Wordsworth proclaims, brain builds World, but equally the World has built the brain.

The highly symbolic imagery also relates to the Hermetic visual languages of European Medieval and Renaissance Emblem Books, alchemy and mysticism.

Michael Maier, an important alchemical illustrator, described his work as a mixture of ‘Aphrodites and Hermes’, as a Hermaphrodite with both a sensual stimulus and intellectual appeal, attempting ‘ to reach the intellect via the senses’.

Michael Whittle, 2007

Born in 1976, lives and works in Kyoto, Japan.

Education
2005: MA, Sculpture,Royal College of Art, London
2002: BA, Fine Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art
1998: BSc, Biomedicine, Bradford University

Solo Exhibitions
2009: ‘The World of Red Dust’, CIGE International Solo Exhibitions, Beijing
2008: ‘Dark Ages’, Man&Eve, London,— ‘Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists’, Man&Eve, London
2008: ‘Suspensions’, Gallery NV, Seoul — ‘Different Similarities, Similar Differences’, Sferra exhibition, Kyoto — Michael Whittle, Man&Eve
2007: The louder the Sun Blooms, Daniel Cooney Fine Art,New York
2006: The Topology of Being, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York
2005: Katsura Gallery, Kyoto University, Kyoto

Selected Group Exhibitions
2009: ‘Workshop of Hereafter, Imperial College, London — ‘Group show’, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York — ‘Huntorama’, Muzz Project Space, Kyoto
2007: ‘Storytelling’, Man and Eve, London — ‘The Search for a Space (Questioning Spaces)’, Malta — ‘Year_07 Art Projects’, London — ‘Aqua Wynwood art fair’, Miami, USA
2006: ‘Miniature Worlds’, Jerwood Space, London — ‘Adam Humphries / Michael Whittle’, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London — ‘Baroque My World’, Transition Gallery, London — ‘Schema’, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York — ‘Riddles of Form’, University of Dundee, Dundee
2005: ‘Art Futures 2005’, Bloomberg Space, London — ‘Best of MA-BA’, Art Fortnight London, Online Exhibition — ‘Black Body Object’, Hockney Gallery, RCA London
2004: ‘International Students Show’, Kyoto City, Kyoto — ‘Group Show’, Gasworks Studios, London — ‘Le Gunn Magazine’, French institute, London
2002:‘Invited Work’, Royal Glasgow Institute, Glasgow — ‘Earthly Paradise’, Cooper Gallery, Dundee

Awards and Scholarships
2004: Kyoto City University of the Arts, Scholarship, RCA — Agency Republic Commission Winner, London
2003: Daler Rowney/Royal College of Art, Drawing Purchase Prize — Agency Republic Commission Winner, London
2002: Farquar Reid Trust Art Prize — Discovery Centenary Art Prize
2001: Erasmus Scholarship, Konstfach Art College, Sweden

Collections
Progressive Art Collection, New York — Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, New York, USA — Royal College of Art, London — Kyoto University, Japan — Duncan Jordanstone College of Art, Scotland, UK