Michael J Austin
EQUUS Five Paintings
Exhibition: 13 – 29 February 2020 Paintings are available for purchase upon receipt of this catalogue
Michael J Austin
EQUUS Five Paintings
Jonathan Cooper 20 Park Walk London SW10 0AQ t: +44 (0)20 7351 0410 mail@jonathancooper.co.uk jonathancooper.co.uk
EQUUS The horse has a permanently reserved and special place on my easel. It is evocative of noble things, of things classical and ancient and possesses a grace and dignity favoured by artists throughout the ages. The equine head especially is an artist’s and sculptor’s delight. The prominent, solid nosebone so pronounced, softened by the always blowing silky nose; the taught tension of the tendons and muscles, a feast of expression and twiddley bits for the artist’s brush and an intelligence and empathy so easily seen in the eyes. For a long time I resisted the temptation to paint them as I feared an over-familiarity with the equine image, so I isolated and minimalised, separating the horse from the land and the tack and placing them on simple colours to enhance the form and focus the attention. In this way, to me at least, the horse became more than a horse. It began to turn into an icon, not because of any particular skill of mine as an artist, but because of the magical spell of the Equus. Michael J Austin, January 2020
Equus I oil on canvas 36 × 22 ins (91 × 56 cm) £9,000
Equus II oil on canvas 43.3 × 31.5 ins (110 × 80 cm) £12,800
Equus III oil on canvas 35.4 × 23.6 ins (90 × 60 cm) £9,000
Equus IV oil on canvas 41.75 × 30 ins (106 × 76 cm) £11,800
Equus V oil on canvas 47.6 × 31.5 ins (121 × 80 cm) £14,000
MICHAEL J AUSTIN 1959
Born in London, UK
1985 – 1995 Features Artist for The Sunday Times, Marvel 1997 – 2020 Solo exhibitions with Jonathan Cooper, London 2002 – 2015 Exhibited at the London Art Fair 2002 – 2011 Exhibited at Art London 2003
Invited by HRH the Prince of Wales to accompany him to India and Oman as Royal Tour Artist
2008 – 2016 Exhibited at BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair 2013 – 2019 Exhibited at Masterpiece, London 2010 – 2012 Exhibited at Haughton’s Art Antiques, London 2013
Exhibited in 25 Years, Jonathan Cooper, London
2013 – 2019 Exhibited at LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair, London 2014
Exhibited in Still Lifes & Flowers, Jonathan Cooper, London
2015
Exhibited at Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show, Florida
2016
Invited by HRH the Prince of Wales to accompany him to Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates as Royal Tour Artist
2017
New Work, Jonathan Cooper, London
Exhibited in Art in Motion – The Spirit of the Horse, Messums Wiltshire
2018
Exhibited in Jonathan Cooper: 30 Years, Jonathan Cooper, London
Selected Press
Antiques Magazine; Antiques Trade Gazette; The Artist; Artists and Illustrators; Country Life; Country and Town House; The Countryman; The Countryman’s Weekly; Daily Mail Weekend; The Horse and Rider; House & Garden; The Hunting Art Prize Catalogue; The Independent Arts Review; Leisure Painter; The Resident; The London Magazine; The London Paper; This is London; The Times; The Shooting Gazette
Commissions undertaken
Jonathan Cooper 20 Park Walk  London  SW10 0AQ t: +44 (0)20 7351 0410 mail@jonathancooper.co.uk jonathancooper.co.uk
Jonathan Cooper