First appearing on the art scene after coming runner up at the National Portrait Gallery's BP/Amoco portrait of the year in 2000, Micallef is one of the most promising painters from the UK. In 2007 he incredibly sold his entire show at the fashionable Lazarides Gallery within 30 minutes of the doors opening, and his work has been the subject of fierce bidding wars at auction houses.
He has a background of expressionism, as his tutor was John Virtue, who in turn was taught by Frank Auerbach. Micallef has a contemporary style and a fascination with cultural icons and motifs and their relation to society and the individual. He often uses corporate logos and popular icons juxtaposing among his sinister and smudged human-esque forms, which represent society's obsession with consumerism and pup culture imagery.
He's quoted as saying, "My work is like watching a Disney movie which slowly turns into violent pornography."
