More orange than pink
I first encountered Michael Coleman’s paintings in the summer of 1989
when I worked as an EFL teacher in the grandly titled Academy of
English Studies. Michael had his studio on the top floor and was
manning the reception desk while his enormous monochrome paintings
adorned the classrooms.
The rooms were on a grand scale, looking out on The Mansion House,
nonetheless the paintings completely dominated them, towering over
our assembled classes. Usually the walls of English language classrooms
are covered in clutter, bland, busy posters of irregular verbs, phonetic
symbols and the like. These paintings couldn’t have been more different,
intense, contemplative, one colour built up layer upon layer.
Extract from 'More orange than pink', an accompanying text by John Poole