Michael JW Green in his SoHo studio, NY

Sculptor and artist Michael John William Green (1929-2022) was born in Nyasaland, (now Malawi) where he spent the first seven years of his life before coming to England. He was educated in Taunton, Somerset.

Passionate about the theatre, he won a place at RADA at the age of 15 and went on to carve out a career as an actor before committing his life to art and design, initially working as a textile, product and theatre designer in Canada and New York.

In the 1960s he moved into his New York studio in SoHo, a place where he developed his natural creative talent working through the diverse aspects of non-objective painting and developing his first extensive and expansive body of work: The Bridge Series.

Michael JW Green, 1977

Michael JW Green in his studio in Molini di Triora, Italy, 1989. Photo by Alex Brattell

Michael travelled widely across the globe, writing books and poetry as well as furthering his artistic skills and immersing himself in abstract expressionism on a large scale.

He lived and worked between SoHo, New York and Italy where he helped to found the Villaggio Internazionale Artisiti, an artists’ cooperative based in the abandoned medieval village of Bussana Vecchia in Liguria. In 1986 Michael moved to the East End of London where he set up a live/work studio in the old Spratt’s dog biscuit factory, a place that was finally big enough to accommodate his prolific artistic output where he could develop his 3-dimensional boxed art, collages and sculptures.

A committed environmentalist, Michael was an early member of the Green party and a fundraiser for gay rights charities.

Michael JW Green posing with Bridge Series #15, Hunnings Gallery, 1982

His work

Michael delved deeply into the human condition and psyche. He developed a unique approach to abstract expressionism, creating large canvases, captivating collages and ‘found pieces’ sculptures.

Untamed by conventional artistic education, his paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures and box art are a reflection of time, place and emotion, and were widely exhibited and collected during his lifetime with solo exhibitions in the US, Italy, London and Cyprus.

Michael JW Green, Limehouse, UK, 1988

Michael JW Green, Limehouse, UK, 1990

Today

Since Michael Green’s death in London in October 2022 over 1,000 pieces of art have been discovered in his Limehouse studio. Many of them were created in New York and remained unpacked in the crates used for transporting his works from New York to London in the 1970s.

It was his wish that his works be made available to the public and used to create a lasting legacy for good.

"I must paint of the emotion of space, describe the charged nothingness" 
MJWG, 1986

Michael JW Green, Packing up NY, 1986. Photo by Jim Zver