Unveiling thirteen new paintings, this exhibition serves as a letter to art history, literature, and mythology. An attempt to reflect the social changes that have reshaped society over the past century, Michael Tole explores the evolution of gender norms, power dynamics, and representation within Western visual and literary culture, negotiating aesthetic pleasure, justice, and cultural discourse on beauty. Following his inclusion in the 25th Annual ‘No Dead Artists’, Tole was selected as the grand prize winner of the exhibition and recipient of a solo exhibition at the gallery in 2022.
This show borrows from a variety of art historical movements to serve as foils for contemporary issues and culture. Movies, magazines, advertising all pull from art history to achieve different effects. The Revisionist Histories collection explores what is signified by the adoption of a particular historically rooted aesthetic when applied to contemporary pop culture, media and subjects. It also attempts to shake loose some of the inherited conventions of art history in order to make them more inclusive.
Michael Tole
Michael Tole was born in 1979 in Dallas, Texas. He currently lives in Tempe, Arizona with his wife and two daughters. For the first half of his career, he created paintings that explored the relationship of painting and photography. After moving to Tempe, his work experienced a shift to fantastical figurative inventions based on pop culture imagery.