About Mike Tingle
Artist's Statement
The classical past in the commercial present interests me. I derive my imagery from the symbolic figures on public information signs mixed with figures and compositions from high art. Classical poses and present day preoccupations. To make 'Toilet Man' into a modern day anti-hero is my aim. The twelve labours of Hercules become the half-dozen labours of Signman: The Shopping; The Phoning; The Driving; The Watching; The Surfing; The Walking.
I discovered the 'Global Neoclassic Style' at the British Museum when I looked at the running figures on a Greek vase and the running figure on a pictorial exit sign simultaneously.
