2004 Feature Artist

Michael Hiller

Michael paints earthy, surrealistic and zany compositions in a naïve style reminiscent of Mambo. His paintings have a strong quirky element demonstrating Michael's droll humour and inventiveness.

Michael Hiller is the feature artist of the 2004 Burnie Shines program, with the commissioned painting entitled" What a Wonderful World". He is an artist evolving independently from the mainstream and his work is honest with a sophisticated rawness. The colourful surreal designs are uplifting and inspirational.

Born in Burnie in 1978, Michael Hiller attended Burnie High School and Hellyer College before gaining his Fine Art Degree at the Tasmanian School of Art (University of Tasmania) in 1998 in Hobart.

Since finishing school in Hobart, Michael has lived and worked in a small live-in studio at the bottom of a garden at Lower Mt Hicks. He is a keen gardener. His art has evolved naturally out of a fascination with his environment.

Michael is a shy person who is reticent to talk about his work believing that too much analysis can lead to formulaic approach. He invites you to view and enjoy his work at his exhibition, opening at Creative Paper Tasmania on the 15th October.

As well as wonderful paintings, Michael constructs odd gangly birds and animals from gourds, which will also feature in the exhibition.

Michael's crowded colourful images feature a number of reoccurring motifs that appear in his painting like candles, fish, birds, animals, frogs and sunflowers, in sombre settings with amazing light.

The earthy and bright colours he uses and swirling compositions have some similarities to the work or artists like Henri Rousseau, Thomas Hart Benton, Salvador Dali, M. C. Escher, Hieronymous Bosch and Peter Booth in the fertility and expressive power.

Michael Hiller has had 3 solo exhibitions in Hobart and has shown his work in a number of group exhibitions on the North West Coast. The recent series of paintings have a greater complexity and subtlety than his earlier works, showing his increasing maturity as a creative artist.