Within his sculptures, Michael-Francis Cartwright is able to adroitly, and seemingly intuitively, distil a vast multitude of complexities and narratives of not only form, line and colour, but more importantly human emotion, memory and lived experience into striking and beautifully crafted forms.

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His sculptures seem to speak of travel through memory and the imagined. He references figures engaged in heightened states of learning and exploration along with natural forms and phenomena, with bold confidant gestures balanced with a masterful eye for subtlety. Indeed, sculptures such as 'A Constellation Walking Through the Universe' and 'Reclining Cliff Figure' display almost rhythmic qualities of undulating line and texture that speak of a conductor leading an orchestra in perfect harmony.

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It is rare for a sculptor to give equal weight to painting within their practice and rarer still to produce paintings of mesmerising strength and luminosity. Michael undoubtedly achieves this with a lightness of touch and joyous palette that both allows for his paintings to compliment and stand apart from his sculptures. The paintings are richly layered and atmospheric, evoking place and encompassing the full spectrum of emotion and feeling gifted from immersing oneself in nature. Strokes weave and dance across the canvas, overlapping and intermingling with one another with the energy and grace of a murmuration.

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Michael's work, be it sculpture or painting, straddles the line between figuration and abstraction settling on neither and leaving space for the viewer to interpret and imagine.