Michael Vale: The Cuckoo, The Herring, and The Trembling Tambourines

Michael Vale is a Melbourne-based artist whose practice brings together Romantic traditions, absurdist theatre, dark fiction and a mischievous sense of humour. Over several decades, he has developed a distinctive visual language that fuses the grandeur of dramatic landscapes with the unexpected presence of surreal and often comical figures. His paintings and installations are populated with spectral characters, cartoonish costumes, and shadowy, theatrical backdrops that unsettle as much as they amuse. By deliberately disrupting clear narrative readings, Vale creates scenes that hover between the familiar and the uncanny, inviting viewers into a world where meaning is unstable and tone constantly shifts. 

A winner of the prestigious Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and a senior lecturer at Monash University for over 20 years, Vale combines painterly skill with a love of storytelling and visual trickery. His richly layered works offer audiences an imaginative space where theatre, literature and art collide

 

Image: Michael Vale, Green, shiny hat (a shooting star) (detail) 2024, oil on linen, ©Michael Vale, 2025