Hello…

Growing up, I struggled to share my feelings, let go of my worries and was often overwhelmed by my thoughts. This impacted how I connected with others; as I learned more about self-reflection and mindfulness, I found it easier to overcome these difficulties, which is why I create the art I make today.

My work explores themes of connectedness, the relevance of self-identity and psychedelic or altered experience. There is a sharp contrast between our felt experience, physical reality, and others’ perception of us, which is increasingly obscured by our increasing presence in digital spaces. 

My journey with meditation has helped me find moments of serenity in an increasingly chaotic world. 

Each painting represents a flickering between being in the present moment to being washed away by a cascade of thoughts, mental images and chatter or overwhelming emotion.  My work encourages self-reflection, mindfulness and questioning the hierarchy or importance of thoughts and experiences. 

These lines of enquiry should inform how we handle our inner world and make sense of our experiences, as well as how we understand and see others.

- Mike Thebridge

Mike Thebridge is a British artist who lives and works in London, UK. Having studied painting at Winchester School of Art, he began his Art career by making art digitally and selling prints of his work.

He returned to painting about 3 years ago, focusing on portraits. In 2021 he moved to Ukraine with his partner and set up a studio there, because of the ongoing conflict and the difficulty of travelling back to the UK regularly, they returned to living in London in early 2024.

His practice involves many forms of image creation; painting, drawing, collage and digital. Each medium is like a different language and evokes a different feeling. The tension between these different ways of representing mirrors the complexity of thoughts and emotions. Works are often left loose and the canvas is left raw to give an unfinished look, to reflect that everyone's life is a work in progress.