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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
It’s easy to get lost in the arresting vision of Mike Worrall, who was last mentioned on Hi-Fructose in this 2014 piece. But maybe lost is the wrong word, as there is a definitive space viewers inhabit as they look upon works like "The Lost Narrative," above, which takes us to the “World’s End.” The paintings’ subjects often gaze back at the viewer, further shackling passers-by into lingering.
Anachronistic worlds painted by Mike Worrall are charming enough to convert the ardent historian into a romantic dreamer. Dressed in a severe Rococo-style, a woman holds a dial telephone and with a stiff neck, gazes purposefully at a pug sharing the cobblestone pathway. In the background, a peculiar golden glow emanates from behind a tree. Titled It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow, the painting prompts the viewer to believe this curious character traveled forward in time. Other works in the UK-born artist’s oeuvre are more explicit in their treatment of the surreal. In The Portal of Intoxication, Worrall borrows the visual vocabulary of René Magritte by using the painted image of a picture frame within the pictorial frame to create and complicate layers of universes within a single composition.