Born Wolverhampton, England, 1938
1969 B.A. (Hons). Fine Art - Newcastle upon Tyne University
1969 - 1988 Principal Lecturer in Fine Art - Exeter College of Art & Design
1988 - 1993 Moved to second studio and residence in Umbria to concentrate solely on painting career
1993 Moved to studio and residence on the edge of Dartmoor

1998 Artifex Gallery, Birmingham
1997 The Bruton Street Gallery, London
1995 The Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture, London The Bruton Street Gallery, London
1991 Marcus & Marcus Gallery, Amsterdam
1977 Basel Art Fair, Nicholas Treadwell Gallery
1972 Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London The Serpentine Gallery, London

1998 Park View Fine Paintings, Bristol, Meridian Art, London
1997 The Body Politic, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Derby Art Gallery
1994 The Bruton Street Gallery, London
1991 - 1992 Gallery Goetz, Basel
1989 Marcus & Marcus Gallery, Amsterdam
1982 Steltman Gallery, Amsterdam Katzen Gallery, New York
1981 Villa Bohm, Neustadt, Germany
1981 Touring Exhibition of Scotland - Aberdeen Museum, Universities of Stirling, Strathclyde, and St. Andrews
1980 Woman 1980, Munich
1979 Grandes et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui - Grand Palais, Paris
1977 Mythologies Quotidiennes - Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris Italy and the Italians - Gallery Naviglio, Milan
1976 British Realists - Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Staat Museum
Vienna Aspects of Reality International Survey of Current Realism - a two-year touring show of Canada
1974 John Moores - Liverpool Aspects of Reality - Gallery Moos, Toronto

1998 Majesty or Travesty - Artists' and Illustrators' Newsletter
1983 Five Artists - German National television film
1980 Superhumanism I & II - Nicholas Treadwell publications
1979 Super Realism - Edward Lucie-Smith 1976 Aspects of Reality - catalogue raisonné
1974 Art & Artists - 'From the Real World': William Packer on Michael Gorman
1972 Arts Review - 'Look and See': monograph by Eddie Wolfram

Prince Meurat Collection
Paris Heineken Collection
Holland Nuremburg Museum, Germany
Royal Albert Museum
Exeter Leicester City Museum

Miss Pears 1977 for Pears soap
Erotic Verse book cover for Picador Press
George Rowney 'Cryla' paint Swedish Chemical
Brights of Nettlebed
1998 - paintings used on set in Frankfurt Film production

INFLUENCES AND ORIGINS
When Michael Gorman obtained a degree in Fine Art from The University of Newcastle in 1969, one of the major teaching influences in the art department was the artist Richard Hamilton.

A subject of great interest and excitement for a number of artists at the time was the explosion of colour and imagery of the late 1960s and early 1970s, brought about by developments in colour printing. Clearly visible in magazines, films and advertising, these technologies transformed the visual environment.

Gorman experimented with airbrush effects and various techniques to extend and develop the resolution of quality colour photography and the open colour dot formations which build up the large scale poster - the pixel factor. Early examples of this work were exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery in 1972. where the imagery itself tended to be drawn from popular culture.

The direction of the work and its derivations led to Gorman's inclusion in the important exhibitions associated with the Hyper Realist movement. He was invited to exhibit in the 1974 John Moores Exhibition in Liverpool and in the 'British Realists' show at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham where the British Art establishment made a lukewarm gesture towards embracing the movement.

It was his inclusion in the survey exhibition, 'Aspects of Reality' which toured Canada in 1976 which placed the artist amongst the leading figures in the trend worldwide. Nicholas Treadwell, the London-based art dealer, successfully gathered a number of artists broadly sharing an interest in urban subject matter and hyper realist technique.

In a period from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s the artists were provided with an international platform through the emergent art fairs of Basel in Switzerland and Dusseldorf in Germany. In 1977 Gorman was amongst those invited to participate in the exhibition 'Mythologies Quotidiennes' at the Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris and in 1979 in the 'Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui' at Le Grand Palais, Paris. Exhibitions followed in Italy at the Gallerie Naviglio in Milan, as well as New York (Katzen Galleries) and in several international venues.

Work from this period has been well documented and Gorman's work illustrates the publications:
Aspects of Reality, catalogue accompanying touring exhibition, Canada, 1976
Superhumanism I and II, Nicholas Treadwell Publications, 1980
SuperRealism by Edward Lucie-Smith, 1979
Five Artists, television documentary for German national television, 1983

Gorman has subsequently gone on to refine a more personal style of imagery and content, widening his sphere of reference to include classical and renaissance architecture, formal gardens and landscapes. With its frequent allusion to the female nude the work has a warm, sensuous feel often combined with a tranquil, timeless atmosphere.

Michael Gorman's innovative use of acrylic paint combines the use of broken colour, dots, stipples and washes with elements derived from his earlier study of photographic processes. Nineteenth century pointilliste colour theory also exerts a great influence on the creation of the images.

The resulting paintings have a vibrant, illusory quality which is most distinctive. In 1989 Gorman left his teaching position to concentrate solely on his own studio work and draws much on the landscapes of Umbria, Italy and Dartmoor, England where he has since lived.

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